Rhinotyphlops boylei

Rhinotyphlops boylei
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Typhlopidae
Genus:	Rhinotyphlops
Species:	R. boylei
Binomial name
Rhinotyphlops boylei (FitzSimons, 1932)
Synonyms [2]
Typhlops boylei FitzSimons, 1932 Rhinotyphlops boylei — Wallach, 1994

Rhinotyphlops boylei, commonly known as Boyle's beaked blind snake, ^[3] is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. ^{[4] [5]} The species is native to southern Africa. ^[3]

Etymology

The specific name, boylei, is in honor of "A. M. Boyle, Esq.", who collected the holotype. ^[2]

Geographic range

Indigenous to southern Africa, R. boylei is found from Damaraland in Namibia to western Botswana. ^[3]

Description

Dorsally, R. boylei is olive-brown, the scales light-edged. Ventrally, it is pale yellow.

Adults may attain a snout-vent length (SVL) of 22 cm (8+1⁄2 in).

The scales are arranged in 26-28 rows around the body. There are more than 300 dorsal scales in the vertebral row. ^[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of R. boylei is sandveld, ^[3] at altitudes of 1,000–1,400 m (3,300–4,600 ft). ^[1]

Reproduction

R. boylei is oviparous. ^[2]

References

1. Pietersen, D.; Verburgt, L.; Farooq, H. (2021). "Rhinotyphlops boylei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021 e.T22473415A22473422. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T22473415A22473422.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
2. Species Rhinotyphlops boylei at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. ISBN   0-88359-042-5. p. 53.
4. McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN   1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN   1-893777-01-4 (volume).
5. "Rhinotyphlops ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 29 August 2007.

Further reading

• Broadley DG, Wallach V (2009). "A review of the eastern and southern African blind-snakes (Serpentes: Typhlopidae), excluding Letheobia Cope, with the description of two new genera and a new species". Zootaxa2255: 1–100. (Rhinotyphlops boylei, p. 59).
• FitzSimons V (1932). "Preliminary descriptions of new forms of South African Reptilia and Amphibia, from the Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition, 1930". Annals of the Transvaal Museum15 (1): 35–40. (Typhlops boylei, new species).
• FitzSimons V (1966). "A check-list, with syntopic keys, to the snakes of southern Africa". Ann. Transvaal Mus.25 (3): 35–79.