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“Anteaters” under the airport: a slender new species of blindsnake, genus Indotyphlops, from Timor-Leste (Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae: Asiatyphlopinae)
O'Shea, Mark Wallach, Van Hsiao, Emma Kaiser, Hinrich
O'Shea, Mark
Wallach, Van
Hsiao, Emma
Kaiser, Hinrich
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2023-06-08
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Abstract
We describe a slender immature female blindsnake from the main airport in Dili, Timor-Leste, as a new species of Indotyphlops, adding a third species to the country's known blindsnake fauna of Sundatyphlops polygrammicus (Schlegel, 1839) and Virgotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803). The new species has the following combination of characteristics: small size (snout–vent length = 119 mm), slender body (relative body thickness 71), T-V supralabial imbrication pattern, relative rostral width 0.36, 434 middorsal scales, relative tail length 1.7%, absence of enlarged occipital scales, and apical spine absent. The snake was found in an ant nest under several flat rocks near the fuel depot of Nicolau Lobato International Airport, and this habitat and the discovery in a busy location with heavy human impacts indicate that the species is likely a primarily subterranean myrmeco- or termitophage.
Citation
O'Shea, M., Wallach, V., Hsiao, E. and Kaiser, H. (2023) “Anteaters” under the airport: a slender new species of blindsnake, genus Indotyphlops, from Timor-Leste (Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae: Asiatyphlopinae). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 101(6), pp. 486–498.
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Journal article
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en
Description
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Canadian Science Publishing on 08/06/2023. The published version of the article can be freely accessed on the journal website at: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2022-0097 The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.
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ISSN
0008-4301
EISSN
1480-3283