Scolecophidia — Safekipedia Discoverer

The Scolecophidia, commonly known as blind snakes or thread snakes, are a special group of small snakes. They are called "blind" because many of them have very small eyes, and they usually live underground, which makes them look like thin threads. These snakes range in length from about 10 to 100 centimeters, or 4 to 40 inches.

All Scolecophidia are fossorial, meaning their bodies are specially adapted for burrowing deep into the ground. They spend most of their time hiding in tunnels made by other animals or digging their own small paths. Because they live underground, they don’t often come out into the open.

There are five different families and 39 genera recognized in this group. Scientists think the Scolecophidia might be paraphyletic, which means they share a common ancestor but not all members of the group are more closely related to each other than to some other snakes. One family, the Anomalepididae, seems especially close to the group known as the 'typical snakes'. These little snakes play an important role in their ecosystems by helping control tiny insects and other small creatures that live in the soil.

Taxonomy

Illustration of Boipeba, the earliest known fossil blind snake

The name Scolecophidia comes from Ancient Greek words meaning "earthworm" and "snake," reflecting their worm-like shape and burrowing lifestyle.

Scolecophidians likely originated in the Middle Jurassic period. Their different families diverged during the Late Jurassic. They evolved on the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, with some groups spreading to Africa, South America, Madagascar, and Asia over millions of years. The earliest fossil evidence of these snakes dates back to the Late Cretaceous in Brazil. This fossil was much larger than most modern blind snakes.

Family	Authority	Genera	Common name	Geographic range
Anomalepididae	Taylor, 1939	4	primitive blind snakes	Southern Central America and South America
Gerrhopilidae	Vidal, Wynn, Donnellan & Hedges, 2010	2	Indo-Malayan blind snakes	India, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea
Leptotyphlopidae	Stejneger, 1892	13	slender blind snakes or threadsnakes	Africa, western Asia, and the Americas
Typhlopidae	Merrem, 1820	18	long-tailed blind snakes	Most tropical and many subtropical regions all over the world
Xenotyphlopidae	Vidal, Vences, Branch & Hedges, 2010	1	Malagasy blind snakes	Madagascar

Description

The Scolecophidia, also called blind snakes, have very small eyes hidden under their head scales. This makes them not very good at seeing. Scientists think this happened because their ancient ancestors lived underground, where good eyesight wasn't as important.

These snakes are usually between 10 to 100 centimeters (4 to 39 inches) long. They have thin, tube-like bodies and small heads. They also don't have certain body parts that other snakes have, like a special lung on one side.

Behavior

All blind snakes, also called thread snakes, live underground or hidden in places like logs and leaf litter. Because they live buried deep down, these snakes are hard to find most of the time. However, after it rains and their burrows fill with water, they sometimes come out onto the ground.

These small snakes eat small animals such as ants and termites. They follow special smell trails left by these insects to find their nests. Some blind snakes can even climb trees to find insect homes! Scientists study these snakes to learn more about how snakes evolved.

Common Name	Blind snakes
Type	Scolecophidia
Size	Usually very small, some are less than 10 centimeters
Habitat	Found in many parts of the world, often in soil or leaf litter