Genus Anilios Gray, 1845

Museums

Regional Maps

• Anilios Gray, J.E. 1845. Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum xxviii 289 pp.

  Type species:

   Anilios australis Gray, 1845 by subsequent designation, see Stejneger, L. 1904. The herpetology of Porto Rico. Annual Report of the United States National Museum 1902: 549–724 [683].
• [Typhlina (part.)] Wagler, J.G. 1830. Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugethiere und Vögel. München : Cotta'schen vi 354 pp. [196].

  Type species:

   Acontias lineatus 1801 by original designation (Typhlops sentemstriatus [sic] Schneider, 1801 = Leptotyphlops septemstriatus (Schneider, 1801)).
• Pseudotyphlops Fitzinger, L.J. 1843. Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus Primus. Amblyglossae. Vienna : Braümüller et Seidel i-vi, 106 pp. [24] [non Schlegel, 1837].

  Type species:

   Typhlops polygrammicus Schlegel, 1839 by original designation.
• Pilidion Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. 1844. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Paris : Roret Vol. 6 xii 609 pp. [257] [nom. substit. pro Typhlina Wagler, 1830].
• Typhlinalis Gray, J.E. 1845. Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum xxviii 289 pp. [134] [nom. substit. pro Typhlina Wagler, 1830].
• Libertadictus Wells, R.W. & Wellington, C.R. 1984. A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology 1(3-4): 73-129 [1983 on title page] [104].

  Type species:

   Onychocephalus bituberculatus Peters, 1863 by original designation.
• Sivadictus Wells, R.W. & Wellington, C.R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology Supplementary Series 1: 1-61 [Date published September, 1985] [41].

  Type species:

   Anilios nigrescens Gray, 1845 by original designation.
• Austrotyphlops Wallach, V. 2006. The nomenclatural status of Australian Ramphotyphlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae). Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 42: 8–24.

  Type species:

   Anilios nigrescens Gray, 1845 by original designation.
• Suewitttyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [43] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops ligatus Peters, 1879 by original designation.
• Robinwitttyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [44] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington, 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops unguirostris Peters, 1867 by original designation.
• Pattersontyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [44] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops wiedii Peters, 1867 by original designation.
• Slopptyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [45] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops ammodytes Montague, 1914 by original designation.
• Mantyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [45] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops guentheri Peters, 1865 by original designation.
• Jackyhosertyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [46] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Ramphotyphlops longissimus Aplin, 1998 by original designation.
• Kerrtyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [47] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops proximus Waite, 1893 by monotypy.
• Adelynhosertyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [47] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Ramphotyphlops pilbarensis Aplin & Donnellan, 1993 by original designation.
• Bennetttyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [47] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops pinguis Waite, 1897 by original designation.
• Silvatyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [47] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Ramphotyphlops sylvia Ingram & Covacevich, 1993 by monotypy.
• Buckleytyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [48] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Ramphotyphlops aspina Couper, Covacevich & Wilson, 1998 by monotypy.
• Sheatyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [49] [as subgenus of Libertadictus Wells & Wellington 1984].

  Type species:

   Typhlops batillus Waite, 1894 by monotypy.
• Ackytyphlops Hoser, R. 2013. The description of new snake subgenera, species and subspecies from Australia (Squamata: Serpentes). Australasian Journal of Herpetology 16: 39–52 [49] [as subgenus of Sivadictus Wells & Wellington 1985].

  Type species:

   Typhlops polygrammicus Schlegel, 1839 by original designation.
• Sundatyphlops Hedges, S.B., Marion, A.B., Lipp, K.M., Marin, J. & Vidal, N. 2014. A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata). Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1–61.

  Type species:

   Typhlops polygrammicus Schlegel, 1839 by monotypy.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Waite, E.R. 1918. Review of the Australian blind snakes. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 1: 1-34
• McDowell, S.B. 1974. A catalogue of the snakes of New Guinea and the Solomons, with special reference to those in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Part I. Scolecophidia. Journal of Herpetology 8: 1-57
• Storr, G.M. 1981. The genus Ramphotyphlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 9: 235-271
• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [194]
• Wallach, V. & Glaw, F. 2009. A new mid-altitude rainforest species of Typhlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from Madagascar with notes on the taxonomic status of T. boettgeri Boulenger, T. microcephalus Werner, and T. capensis Rendahl. Zootaxa 2294: 23–38 (for Austrotyphlops)
• Shea, G.M. 2015. A new species of Anilios (Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae) from Central Australia. Zootaxa 4033(1): 103–116 [113] (On gender status, updated synonymy, nomenclature of some species)

Introduction

Hedges et al. (2014) and Pyron & Wallach (2014) split the family Typhlopidae into several genera on the base of molecular and morphological analyses. Anilios has been resurrected for the Australian blind snakes previously included in Ramphotyphlops. Recognition of the two genera is needed in order to avoid paraphyly, allowing the non-Australian genus Acutotyphlops, which is both morphologically and genetically distinguishable from Ramphotyphlops and Anilios, to be recognised. However, a significant number of Australian species have not been included in such analyses and their assignment to Anilios is merely based on geography. No morphological character differentiates the two genera (Shea 2015). According to Pyron & Wallach (2014), Ramphotyphlops and Anilios "...can be distinguished from all other typhlopoids by a protrusible hemipenis, retrocloacal sacs, and absence of a frontorostral and paired prefrontal scales ", while the remaining characters mentioned for both genera, including both internal and external features, show extensive overlap and turn out to be useless (see Shea 2015).
Savage & Boundy (2012) provide evidence that the gender of Anilios is masculine, a position confirmed by Shea (2015) although on different grounds.

Shea (2015) clarifies that some emendations proposed by McDiarmid et al. (1999) (Ramphotyphlops leptosomus) and later by Hedges et al. (2014) and Pyron & Wallach (2014), namely A. aspinus, A. leptosomus, A. micromma and A. nigricaudus (here treated as synonym of A. guentheri) are invalid. They are all nouns, not adjectives, and therefore must be kept in their original spelling, in accordance with art. 31.2.1.-2 of ICZN.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic: Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC) ; ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ) ; ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Sydney Basin (SB), South Eastern Highlands (SEH) ; NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Hampton (HAM), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), Nullarbor (NUL), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL) ; NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Burt Plain (BRT), Channel Country (CHC), Central Ranges (CR), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Finke (FIN), Gibson Desert (GD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Tanami (TAN) ; NSW, SA, Vic, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR) ; NT, Qld, WA: Carnarvon (CAR), Gascoyne (GAS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pilbara (PIL), Sturt Plateau (STU)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

General References

Australian Society of Herpetologists 30 June 2022. Australian Society of Herpetologists Official List of Australian Species. Australian Society of Herpetologists. http://www.australiansocietyofherpetologists.org/ash-official-list-of-australian-species (see entry for genus Anilios)

Hedges, S.B., Marion, A.B., Lipp, K.M., Marin, J. & Vidal, N. 2014. A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata). Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1–61

ICZN 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. IV Edition. London : International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature xxix+ 306 pp. [39]

Pyron, R.A. & Wallach, V. 2014. Systematics of the blindsnakes (Serpentes: Scolecophidia: Typhlopoidea) based on molecular and morphological evidence. Zootaxa 3829: 1-81

Robb, J. 1966. The generic status of the Australasian typhlopids (Reptilia : Squamata). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 13 9: 675-679

Savage, J.M. & Boundy, J. 2012. On the type species of the snake generic name Anilios Gray, 1845 (Serpentes: Typhlopidae). Herpetological Review 43: 537–538

Shea, G.M. 2015. A new species of Anilios (Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae) from Central Australia. Zootaxa 4033(1): 103–116

History of changes