Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803:279)

Bauer, Aaron M., DeBoer, Jonathan C. & Taylor, Dylan J., 2017, Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (8), pp. 155-318 : 239-240

Indotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803:279)

1803 [An XI] Eryx braminus Daudin, Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Reptiles, Ouvrage faisant Suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d’Histoire Naturelle Rédigé par C.S. Sonnini, Membre de Plusieurs Sociétés Savantes. Tome septième. F. Dufart, Paris. 436 pp., pls. lxxi–xcii.

HOLOTYPE.— Type specimen lost but imaged in Russell (1796, pl. 43) from “Vizagapatam [Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India]” (see Bauer 2015).

Ramphotyphlops braminus, Sindaco, Venchi,

and Grieco 2013:74.

DISTRIBUTION.— This species is native to India and adjacent regions of tropical Asia, but has spread widely around the world through human agency, including to Australia and islands of the Pacific, North and Central America, portions of southwest Asia, and scattered localities across Africa, including in Egypt ( Baha El Din 2006a; Wallach 2009). Known from a single locality in Libya.

Libyan Records (Map 47): TRIPOLITANIA: JABAL AL GHARBI: 149: SNHM BS N 40292–93. LIBYA: SNHM BS N 55786. MAP 47. Distribution of introduced Indotyphlops brami-

COMMENTS.— The only record of this nus in Libya.

parthenogenetic species, which has achieved a global distribution through human agency (Wallach 2009) is based on two specimens from Bu Gheilan reported by Joger et al. (2008). Although most for Libya is inhospitable for mesic-adapted blind snakes, it may be expected that I. braminus may be found elsewhere where appropriately moist microclimates can sustain them and the long distance movement of potted plants and similar means of transport provides a mechanism for their introduction .

UCN Threat Status: Not assessed, but assumed to be Least Concern.