Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, 1843

Pyron, Robert Alexander & Wallach, Van, 2014, Systematics of the blindsnakes (Serpentes: Scolecophidia: Typhlopoidea) based on molecular and morphological evidence, Zootaxa 3829 (1), pp. 1-81 : 48-50

Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, 1843

Type species. Typhlops lalandei Schlegel, 1839

Species content. Rhinotyphlops ataeniatus , Rh. boylei , Rh. lalandei , Rh. schinzi , Rh. scorteccii , and Rh. unitaeniatus .

Diagnosis. Rhinotyphlops can be distinguished from all other typhlopoids by the combination of the following characters: snout with sharply pointed lateral profile, T-0 SIP (T-II in Rh. schinzi ), 22–34 midbody scale rows, pigmented dorsum and absence of left lung. Small- to large-sized (total length 90–455 mm), stout- to slenderbodied (length/width ratio 27–88) snakes with 22–34 scale rows (with reduction), 311–586 total middorsals, short to moderate tail (0.6–2.3% total length) with 6–13 subcaudals (length/width ratio 0.5–1.5), and apical spine minute. Moderate to broad rostral (0.54–0.85 head width), inferior nasal suture in contact with first or second supralabial, preocular in contact with second or second and third supralabials, and postoculars 2–5. Lateral tongue papillae present; left lung absent, tracheal, cardiac and right lungs multicameral (with 24–47 + 1–8 + 2–10 chambers, respectively); testes unsegmented, hemipenis eversible, lacking retrocloacal sacs; and rectal caecum moderate (1.4–3.8% SVL). Coloration dark brown to blackish-brown above and below (with or without a yellow vertebral stripe) or dorsum light with irregular dark pigmentation and light venter.

Phylogenetic definition. Includes the MRCA of Rhinotyphlops lalandei and Rh. unitaeniata and all descendants thereof, and all species more closely related to Rh. lalandei than to the type species of the 15 other typhlopid genera listed here.

Etymology. Likely refers to enlarged rostral (Greek rhinos for nose) of the type species, R. lalandei .

Distribution. Range includes much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Remarks. The species Rhinotyphlops lalandei is also the type species of Onychocephalus described by Duméril & Bibron (1844), which is in the synonymy of several other genera listed here ( McDiarmid et al. 1999; Wallach et al. 2014), but Rhinotyphlops has priority over Onychocephalus . Note that Hedges et al. (2014) included Madatyphlops leucocephalus in Rhinotyphlops , but it is apparently allied with Madatyphlops based on SIP (T-V vs. T-0 or T-II in Rhinotyphlops ), fourth supralabial and its orientation (high and vertical vs. low and horizontal in Rhinotyphlops ), and rostral width (<50% of head width vs. 54%–85% in Rhinotyphlops ).