McDowell's blind snake (''Gerrhopilus mcdowelli)'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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' ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''mcdowelli'', is in honor of American
herpetologist
Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...
Samuel Booker McDowell Jr.
Samuel Booker McDowell Jr. (1928–2014) was an American Herpetology, herpetologist who worked on the comparative anatomy of turtles and snakes, and studied snakes of Oceania.
McDowell earned a B.Sc. (1947) and a Ph.D. (1957) from Columbia Uni ...
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Typhlops mcdowelli'', p. 173).]
Geographic range
''G. mcdowelli'' is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
.
[
]
Reproduction
''G. mcdowelli'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Vidal, Nicolas; Marin, Julie; Morini, Marina; Donnellan, Steve; Branch, William R.; Thomas, Richard; Vences, Miguel; Wynn, Addison; Cruaud, Corinne; Hedges, S. Blair (2010). "Blindsnake evolutionary tree reveals long history on Gondwana". ''Biology Letters'' 6: 558–561. (''Gerrhopilus mcdowelli'', new combination, p. 560).
* Wallach V (1996). "Two New Blind Snakes of the ''Typhlops ater'' Group from Papua New Guinea". ''Russian Journal of Herpetology'' 3 (2): 107–118. (''Typhlops mcdowelli'', new species).
Gerrhopilus
Reptiles described in 1996
Taxa named by Van Wallach
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