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Typhlopidae
The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing structure. They live underground in burrows, and since they have no use for vision, their eyes are mostly vestigial. They have light-detecting black eye spots, and teeth occur in the upper jaw. Typhlopids do not have dislocatable lower jaw articulations restricting them to prey smaller than their oral aperture. All species in the family Typhlopidae are fossorial and feed on social fossorial invertebrates such as termites and ants. The tracheal lung is present and chambered in all species. One species, the Brahminy's blind snake, is the only unisexual snake, with the entire population being female and reproducing via parthenogenesis. The tail ends with a horn-like scale. Most of these species are oviparous. Currently, 18 genera are recognized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenotyphlops
''Xenotyphlops'' is a genus of snakes, the only genus of the Family (biology), family Xenotyphlopidae, comprising two species found only in Madagascar. These snakes are also known as the Malagasy blind snake. Evolution ''Xenotyphlops'' is an ancient group that diverged from other blind snakes during the Cretaceous, following the separation of Madagascar from Indian subcontinent, India. On the newly-isolated Madagascar, the ancestral Xenotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae diverged from one another; Typhlopidae dispersed worldwide from Madagascar while leaving behind a single Malagasy genus (''Madatyphlops''), while the Xenotyphlopidae remained restricted to Madagascar. ''Xenotyphlops'', ''Madatyphlops'', and the Madagascan big-headed turtle are the only Malagasy terrestrial vertebrates whose isolation on Madagascar is due to Gondwana, Gondwanan Allopatric speciation, vicariance. Physical characteristics The family Xenotyphlopidae is composed of small blind snakes. These members lack cran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scolecophidia
The Scolecophidia, commonly known as blind snakes or thread snakes, are an infraorder of snakes. They range in length from . All are fossorial (adapted for burrowing). Five families and 39 genera are recognized. The Scolecophidia infraorder is most-likely paraphyletic (with the family Anomalepididae recovered with strong support as sister clade to the 'typical snakes'). Taxonomy The infraorder name Scolecophidia derives from the two Ancient Greek words or σκώληκος (, genitive ), meaning "earthworm", and (), meaning "snake". It refers to their shape and fossorial lifestyle. Families Evolution Despite only having fossils as early as the Cretaceous, Scolecophidia itself likely originated in the Middle Jurassic, with Anomalepididae, Leptotyphlopidae, and Typhlopoidea diverging from one another during the Late Jurassic. Within Typhlopoidea, Gerrhopilidae likely diverged from the Xenotyphlopidae-Typhlopidae clade during the Early Cretaceous, and Xenotyphlopidae and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madatyphlops
''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. 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. *'' Madatyphlops albanalis'' *'' Madatyphlops andasibensis'' *'' Madatyphlops arenarius'' *'' Madatyphlops boettgeri'' *'' Madatyphlops cariei'' – extinct *'' Madatyphlops comorensis'' *'' Madatyphlops decorsei'' *'' Madatyphlops domerguei'' *'' Madatyphlops eudelini'' *'' Madatyphlops madaga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerrhopilidae
The Gerrhopilidae (Indo-Malayan blindsnakes) are a family of blindsnakes that contains at least 16 species in the genus '' Gerrhopilus'', and possibly others (the genus '' Cathetorhinus'' and the species known as either ''Malayotyphlops manilae'', ''Gerrhopilus manilae'', or ''Typhlops manilae'') as well. These blindsnakes are found in India (including the Andaman Islands), Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia (including Java, Ternate, Sulawesi, Halmahera, Waigeu, Salawati, Irian Jaya, and Bali), and Papua New Guinea. These blindsnakes were considered to be part of the family Typhlopidae and were formerly known as the ''Typhlops ater'' species group. In 2010, they were discovered to be distantly related to other typhlopids and separated into their own family. Gerrhopilidae, Xenotyphlopidae, and Typhlopidae are grouped together in the superfamily Typhlopoidea to emphasize their closer relationship to one another than to the other two families of scolecophidians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Blind Snake
''Xerotyphlops vermicularis'', the European blind snake, European worm snake, Eurasian blind snake, or Eurasian worm snake, is a species of snake in the genus ''Xerotyphlops.'' Despite its common name, the range of the European blind snake ranges from the Balkan Peninsula, the Aegean Islands, and Cyprus to Afghanistan. The northernmost region it inhabits is just north of the Gulf of Burgas in Bulgaria. The common name results from the fact that is the only blindsnake naturally found in Europe (the brahminy blindsnake, ''Indotyphlops braminus'', has been introduced to Kew Gardens and in Italy and Spain). Description ''Xerotyphlops vermicularis'' is a small, earthworm-like snake that has a maximum length of 35 cm. The head, body, and tail generally have no differentiation between them and look like one fluid segment. The coloration tends to be light brown, yellowish, or flesh colored. Juveniles do not usually have different coloring than the adults, but some have been known to lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sister Group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and taxon B are sister groups to each other. Taxa A and B, together with any other extant or extinct descendants of their most recent common ancestor (MRCA), form a monophyletic group, the clade AB. Clade AB and taxon C are also sister groups. Taxa A, B, and C, together with all other descendants of their MRCA form the clade ABC. The whole clade ABC is itself a subtree of a larger tree which offers yet more sister group relationships, both among the leaves and among larger, more deeply rooted clades. The tree structure shown connects through its root to the rest of the universal tree of life. In cladistic standards, taxa A, B, and C may represent specimens, species, genera, or any other taxonomic units. If A and B are at the same taxono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from Ancient Greek (''olígos'') 'few' and (''kainós'') 'new', and refers to the sparsity of Neontology, extant forms of Mollusca, molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major chang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, and South America to the south, it comprises numerous List of Caribbean islands, islands, cays, islets, reefs, and banks. It includes the Lucayan Archipelago, Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies; the Quintana Roo Municipalities of Quintana Roo#Municipalities, islands and Districts of Belize#List, Belizean List of islands of Belize, islands of the Yucatán Peninsula; and the Bay Islands Department#Islands, Bay Islands, Miskito Cays, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, Corn Islands, and San Blas Islands of Central America. It also includes the coastal areas on the Mainland, continental mainland of the Americas bordering the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleocene
The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''palaiós'' meaning "old" and the Eocene Epoch (which succeeds the Paleocene), translating to "the old part of the Eocene". The epoch is bracketed by two major events in Earth's history. The K–Pg extinction event, brought on by an asteroid impact (Chicxulub impact) and possibly volcanism (Deccan Traps), marked the beginning of the Paleocene and killed off 75% of species, most famously the non-avian dinosaurs. The end of the epoch was marked by the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which was a major climatic event wherein about 2,500–4,500 gigatons of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean systems, causing a spike in global temperatures and ocean acidification. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion of the Americas. South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Drake Passage; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. The continent includes twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela; two dependent territory, dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and one administrative division, internal territory: French Guiana. The Dutch Caribbean ABC islands (Leeward Antilles), ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) and Trinidad and Tobago are geologically located on the South-American continental shel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oceanic Dispersal
Oceanic dispersal is a type of biological dispersal that occurs when Terrestrial animal, terrestrial organisms transfer from one land mass to another by way of a sea crossing. Island hopping is the crossing of an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly to the destination. Often this occurs via large rafts of floating vegetation such as are sometimes seen floating down major rivers in the tropics and washing out to sea, occasionally with animals trapped on them. Dispersal via such a raft is sometimes referred to as a rafting event. Colonization of land masses by plants can also occur via long-distance oceanic dispersal of floating seeds. History Rafting has played an important role in the colonization of isolated land masses by mammals. Prominent examples include Madagascar, which has been isolated for ~120 million years (Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma), and South America, which was isolated for much of the Cenozoic. Both lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
