Madatyphlops

{{short description|Genus of snakes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Sand Worm Snake (Typhlops arenarius) (10292802745).jpg

| image_caption = Madatyphlops arenarius specimen

| taxon = Madatyphlops

| authority = Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| synonyms =

}}

Madatyphlops is a genus of snakes in the family Typhlopidae.

Madatyphlops may represent a surviving clade of the ancestral Typhlopidae, which are thought to have originated on Madagascar during the Cretaceous, before later dispersing to mainland Africa and then worldwide. This makes it, Xenotyphlops, and the Madagascan big-headed turtle the only Malagasy terrestrial vertebrates whose isolation on Madagascar is due to Gondwanan vicariance.{{Cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Jason R. |last2=Hedges |first2=S. Blair |date=2023-05-04 |title=The colonisation of Madagascar by land-bound vertebrates |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12966 |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=98 |issue=5 |pages=1583–1606 |language=en |doi=10.1111/brv.12966 |pmid=37142264 |issn=1464-7931}}

Geographic range

The 15 species of the genus Madatyphlops are found mostly on Madagascar, but also occur on the Comoro Islands. A fossil species occurred on Mauritius.

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid.{{EMBL genus|genus=Madatyphlops}}. www.reptile-database.org.

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Madatyphlops.

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Hedges, S. Blair; Marion, Angela B.; Lipp, Kelly M.; Marin, Julie; Vidal, Nicolas (2014). "A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata)". Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1-61. (Madatyphlops, new genus, p. 42).

{{Taxonbar|from=Q16735877}}

Category:Snake genera