The prong-snouted blind snake (''Anilios bituberculatus'') is a species of non-venomous worm-like burrowing

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s belonging to the

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 str ...

family.McDiarmid R.W., Campbell J.A. & Touré T. (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. (series). (volume).ITIS Report. (n.d.). ITIS Report. Retrieved from https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174339#null on 29 August 2007.Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. (n.d.). Anilios bituberculatus. The Reptile Database. Zoological Museum Hamburg. Retrieved from http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Anilios&species=bituberculatus on 29 July 2018. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to central southern, continental

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

A small, thin, shiny-scaled snake with a total length averaging around 30 cm to a maximum of 45 cm.

Dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

, it appears brown to black, while ventrally it is creamy white to pink white. The body is uniform along its thickness, ending in a very short, conical spine. There are 20 mid-body dorsal scale rows, 414 to 485

ventrals In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that cont ...

and 11 to 18 sub-caudal scales. The nasal cleft, which is not visible from above does not divide the nasal openings and connects the second labial scale below. The eyes are small, dark dots under the head scales. The mouth is small and curved, behind and below the end of the

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...

, akin to that of a

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

. The snout from above has three lobes with an angular profile.

Taxonomy

''A. bituberculatus'' is one of 46 species of blind snakes belonging to the genus ''Anilios'' (previously Ramphlotyphops) in Australia. It is recognised by several synonyms, but ''A. bituberculatus'' is the most recent.Australian Museum. (2018). Blind Snake. Retrieved from https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/reptiles/blind-snake/ on 9 June 2019.

Distribution, habitat and ecology

Due to the snake's cryptic behaviour, geographical distributions are virtually incomplete. It is an

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

adapted species, occurring in varied habitats from

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

al areas to drier parts of southern Australia, stretching across from inland NSW to WA. It is found in the states of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Blind snakes such as ''A. bituberculatus'' are usually found when dug up from termite or ant nests. The snakes move underground through the tunnels made by these insects. They may also be seen moving along the surface of the ground at nighttime, particularly after rain and/or warm

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

. When disturbed, they may emit a strong, foul

odour An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

from well-developed

anal gland Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involving s ...

Reproduction

The prong-snouted blind snake is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

. Females produce a clutch ranging from two to nine eggs, with six eggs produced on average. The young when hatched, fend for themselves. Males have solid eversible awned

hemipenes A hemipenis (plural hemipenes) is one of a pair of intromittent organs of male squamata, squamates (snakes, lizards and amphisbaenia, worm lizards). Hemipenes are usually held inverted within the body, and are everted for reproduction via erecti ...

able to be retracted into the tail in a helical pattern and retrocloacal sacs.

Diet

Due to ''A. bituberculatus'' being

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

, it feeds predominantly on the eggs,

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e and

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

e of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

s and

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...

s. The snake uses its top jaw to rake food into its mouth which it swallows whole.

Conservation

Presently, there are no specific conservation plans in place, however ''A. bituberculatus'' does occur in several protected areas.Shea, G. & Ellis, R. (2017). Prong-snouted Blind Snake. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/102838116/102838153#conservation-actions on 14 June 2019.

Nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators ...

such as owls, eat blind snakes, as well as

feral A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es and some snakes, most notably the bandy bandy. The prong-snouted blind snake has not been identified to be under threat. Some localised parts of its range are at risk of being degraded or cleared for human development.

Gallery

File:A. bituberculatus snout.jpg, Dorsal view of the snout of A. bituberculatus on a person's hand. File:Anilios bituberculatus Currawinya NP 3.jpg, Queensland Museum specimen of A. bituberculatus from Currawinya National Park, QLD, File:Anilios bituberculatus Currawinya NP 4.jpg, Queensland Museum specimen of A. bituberculatus from Currawinya National Park, QLD, File:A. bituberculatus 1.jpg, Along edges of coastal shrub land at Thompson Beach SA, ~50 km north of Adelaide. File:A. bituberculatus 2.jpg, Along edges of coastal shrub land at Thompson Beach SA, ~50 km north of Adelaide.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2872286 Anilios Reptiles described in 1863 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Snakes of Australia