''Epictia tenella'', also known as the Guyana blind snake, is a species of

blind snake 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 mos ...

found on

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

in the

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 ...

, and in

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 o ...

, where it ranges from

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

south to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and northwestern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It can reach a length of 170 mm (6-11/16 in) snout-to-vent. It has a medium brown dorsal surface, with a paler ventral surface and a yellow tail. Its head is dark except for a white to yellow spot covering the upper half of its

rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other scaled reptiles is the median plate on the tip of the snout that borders the mouth opening. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: ...

. It is

mesophilic A mesophile is an organism that grows best in moderate temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, with an optimum growth range from . The optimum growth temperature for these organisms is 37 °C (about 99 °F). The term is mainly applied ...

. It burrows in damp soil and rotting vegetation, and possibly in ant and termite colonies. It feeds on ants, termites, millipedes, and eggs. File:Epictia tenella 1847.jpg File:Epictia tenella 1847 - cropping.jpg File:Epictia tenella 35966.jpg

References

External links

Leptotyphlops tennela
at the

Encyclopedia of Life The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It aggregates content to form "pages" for every known species. Content is compiled from existing trusted ...

Leptotyphlops tennela
at the Reptile Database
iNaturalist page
Epictia Snakes of the Caribbean Snakes of Brazil Reptiles of Colombia Reptiles of Guyana Reptiles of Peru Reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago Reptiles of Venezuela Fauna of the Amazon Reptiles described in 1939 {{Scolecophidia-stub