Epictia

Epictia is a genus of snakes in the family Leptotyphlopidae. The genus is native to South America, Central America, and Mexico.

Epictia
Epictia tenella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Leptotyphlopidae
Subfamily:	Epictinae
Genus:	Epictia Gray, 1845

Taxonomy

Prior to 2009 all species of Epictia were placed in the genus Leptotyphlops.

Species

The genus Epictia contains the following 44 species which are recognized as being valid:

• Epictia albifrons (Wagler, 1824)
• Epictia albipuncta (Burmeister, 1861)
• Epictia alfredschmidti (Lehr, Wallach, G. Köhler & Aguilar, 2002)
• Epictia amazonica (Orejas-Miranda, 1969)
• Epictia antoniogarciai C. Koch, Venegas & Böhme, 2015
• Epictia ater (Taylor, 1940)
• Epictia australis (Freiberg & Orejas-Miranda, 1968) – Freiberg's blind snake
• Epictia bakewelli (J. Oliver, 1937) – Bakewell's blind snake
• Epictia borapeliotes (Vanzolini, 1996)
• Epictia clinorostris Arredondo & Zaher, 2010
• Epictia columbi (Klauber, 1939) – San Salvador blind snake
• Epictia diaplocia (Orejas-Miranda, 1969) – common Peru blind snake
• Epictia fallax (W. Peters, 1858)
• Epictia goudotii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1844)
• Epictia guayaquilensis Orejas-Miranda & J. Peters, 1970
• Epictia hobartsmithi Esqueda, Schlüter, C. Machado, Castelaín & Natera-Mumaw, 2015
• Epictia magnamaculata (Taylor, 1940)
• Epictia martinezi Wallach, 2016
• Epictia melanura (Schmidt & W. Walker, 1943) – dark blind snake
• Epictia munoai (Orejas-Miranda, 1961) – Rio Grande do Sul blind snake
• Epictia pauldwyeri Wallach, 2016
• Epictia peruviana (Orejas-Miranda, 1969) – Peru blind snake
• Epictia phenops (Cope, 1875)
• Epictia resetari Wallach, 2016
• Epictia rioignis C. Koch, A. Martins & Schweiger, 2019
• Epictia rubrolineata (F. Werner, 1901) – red-lined blind snake
• Epictia rufidorsa (Taylor, 1940) – rose blind snake
• Epictia schneideri Wallach, 2016
• Epictia septemlineata C. Koch, Venegas & Böhme, 2015
• Epictia signata (Jan, 1861)
• Epictia striatula (H.M. Smith & Laufe, 1945)
• Epictia subcrotilla (Klauber, 1939) – Klauber's blind snake
• Epictia teaguei (Orejas-Miranda, 1964) – northern blind snake
• Epictia tenella (Klauber, 1939)
• Epictia tesselata (Tschudi, 1845) – Tschudi's blind snake
• Epictia tricolor (Orejas-Miranda & Zug, 1974) – three-colored blind snake
• Epictia undecimstriata (Schlegel, 1839) – eleven-striped blind snake
• Epictia unicolor (F. Werner, 1913)
• Epictia vanwallachi C. Koch, Venegas & Böhme, 2015
• Epictia vellardi (Laurent, 1984)
• Epictia venegasi C. Koch, Santa Cruz & H. Cárdenas, 2016
• Epictia vindumi Wallach, 2016
• Epictia vonmayi C. Koch, Santa Cruz & H. Cárdenas, 2016
• Epictia wynni Wallach, 2016

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Epictia.

Further reading

• Adalsteinsson SA, Branch WR, Trape S, Vitt LJ, Hedges SB (2009). "Molecular phylogeny, classification, and biogeography of snakes of the family Leptotyphlopidae (Reptilia, Squamata)". Zootaxa 2244: 1–50. (Resurrection of genus Epictia, Gray, 1845, p. 16).
• Gray JE (1845). Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). xxviii + 289 pp. (Epictia, new genus, pp. 139–140).