Epictinae

Epictinae
Trilepida macrolepis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Leptotyphlopidae
Subfamily:	Epictinae Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009
Tribes
Epictini Rhinoleptini

Epictinae (commonly called slender blind snakes or threadsnakes) are a subfamily of snakes found in the New World and equatorial Africa. Members of this subfamily tend to have short, thick tails, and the fewest subcaudal scales. It comprises two tribes, three subtribes, nine genera, and 86 species.

Taxonomy

• Tribe Epictini, New World snakes
  • Subtribe Epictina
    • Genus Epictia [Gray, 1845] (43 species)
    • Genus Siagonodon [Peters, 1881] (4 species)
  • Subtribe Renina
    • Genus Rena [Baird & Girard, 1853] (11 species)
    • Genus Trilepida [Hedges, 2011] (14 species)
  • Subtribe Tetracheilostomina
    • Genus Mitophis [Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009] (4 species)
    • Genus Tetracheilostoma [Jan, 1861] (3 species)
• Tribe Rhinoleptini, African snakes
  • Genus Tricheilostoma [Jan, 1860] (5 species)
  • Genus Rhinoleptus [Orejas-Miranda, Roux-Estève & Guibé, 1970] Villiers's blind snake
  • Genus Rhinoguinea [Trape, 2014] Rhinoguinea magna

Distribution

The subfamily is distributed in the New World and in equatorial Africa. In the New World it ranges from North America (California, Utah, and Kansas) south through Middle and South America (exclusive of the high Andes) to Uruguay and Argentina on the Atlantic side. It also occurs on San Salvador Island (Bahamas), Hispaniola, the Lesser Antilles, Cozumel Island (Mexico), Islas de Bahia and Swan Islands (Honduras), San Andres and Providencia Islands (Colombia), Bonaire, Margarita Islands, and Trinidad. It also occurs in equatorial Africa, from southern Senegal, Guinea, and Bioko Island in the west to Ethiopia in the east.