Blackish blind snake
| Blackish blind snake | |
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| Species: | R. nigrescens
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| Binomial name | |
| Ramphotyphlops nigrescens (Gray, 1845)
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The Blackish Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops nigrescens) is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.[1][2]
Activity
The species lives most of its life underground feeding on ants, termites and their larvae. Depending on the subspecies[citation needed], to find their food they flick their tongue to pick up the scent of an ant or termite trail and follow it back to the nest where they rake the ants into their mouth using their upper jaw and swallow the food whole.
Appearance
They can grow to a size of 23 inches, with the largest recorded at 32 inches. Colour is brown/purplish on top, with a light shade of pink on the belly. The tail features a pointed tip which is a harmless spur.
References
- ^ McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
- ^ "Ramphotyphlops". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 August 2007.