Indotyphlops braminus ( Daudin, 1803 )

Karin, Benjamin R., Stubbs, Alexander L., Arifin, Umilaela, Bloch, Luke M., Ramadhan, G., Iskandar, Djoko T., Arida, Evy, Reilly, Sean B., Kusnadi, Agus & Mcguire, Jimmy A., 2018, The herpetofauna of the Kei Islands (Maluku, Indonesia): Comprehensive report on new and historical collections, biogeographic patterns, conservation concerns, and an annotated checklist of species from Kei Kecil, Kei Besar, Tam, and Kur, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 66, pp. 704-738 : 731

Indotyphlops braminus ( Daudin, 1803)

(Fig. 34)

Type locality. Visakhapatnam , India .

Distribution in the Kei Islands. We collected single specimens on Tam and Kur. This parthenogenic species is commonly transported by humans, and may exist invasively in most tropical regions as it easily establishes populations where introduced.

Natural history. On Tam, we found this species at night in crawling in the middle of a dirt road through the town (Desa Tam Ngurhir). On Kur, we found a single specimen under a log in a nutmeg tree woodland. de Rooij (1917) reported this species present on the Kei Islands (presumably Kei Kecil or Kei Besar) though we did not observe it there.

Field identification. A small, threadlike, blackish to brown blind snake with indistinct eyes. Preocular in contact with the second and third labials; nasal cleft proceeding from the preocular; diameter of body 35–55 times the total length; 20 mid-body scale rows; SVL to 175 mm ( Boulenger, 1893, p. 16).

Remarks. A common human commensal, it is likely that this is an invasive species in the Kei Islands.