Epictia pauldwyeri
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Range: Central Pamana, Pacific coast
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Dwyer’s blind snake is a rare Central American endemic with few confirmed records. Collected specimens only reached to 13 cm in length, moderately slender and cylindric with ah blunt-nosed round head barely any wider than the neck. The tail is short, tapering slightly before reaching a spined tip. Dorsal scale count is 202-226, scale row count 14 reduced to 10 caudally. Coloration is chocolate brown with lighter tannish stripes making 7 rows as well as small but distinct yellow spots on the rostrum and tail tip. This species can be distinguished from its relatives by the striped brown colored with distinctive yellow distal spots, eye-level subtriangular rostral scale, and other scalation details.
Habitat: Known from 0-250 meters in elevation in wet coastal lowland rainforest, likely under leaf litter and in insect nests.
Prey: likely small soft-bodied invertebrates such as ant and termite larvae.
Lifespan and reproduction: lifespan unknown, likely under 10 years. Oviparous.
Sources: Wallach, V. (2016). Morphological review and taxonomic status of the Epictia phenops species group of Mesoamerica, with description of six new species and discussion of South American Epictia albifrons, E. goudotii, and E. tenella (Serpentes Leptotyphloptidae: Epictinae). Mesoamerican Herpetology 3: 256-263.