Range: Northern Queretaro and Hidalgo, Mexico

 

A fairly well-distributed but rarely seen species only described in 2016, endemic to the southern Sierra Madre Oriental. It has been seemingly undocumented since the 1970’s so no live photos were found. It grows up to 17 cm in length, with a moderately  thin cylindrical build. The head is blunt, short, and ovular with a slight forward taper, barely wider than the neck, and the tail is short and blunt with a slight taper as well down to the small terminal spine. Dorsal scale count is 242-260, scale row count 14 reduced to 10 caudally. Coloration is chocolatey brown with bright yellow-cream stripes, the brown arranged in 7 dorsal stripes and belly a uniform or yellow-edged scale pale brown. The head is solid brown with a prominent upper rostral yellow blotch, the tail similarly uniform with a yellow terminal spot that’s notably larger on the ventral side. It is distinguished from all other Mesoamerican species in having only 3 infralabial scales (the middle having fused and notably wider than long) instead of 4, and the striped pattern with extremely small dorso-caudal spot.

 

Habitat: known from a relatively wide elevation from 315-2500 meters, in tropical deciduous and evergreen or pine-oak forests into thornscrub. May be found under rocks, logs, or tree bark, or in loose soils.

 

Prey: likely small soft-bodied invertebrates such as ant and termite larvae.

 

Lifespan and reproduction: lifespan unknown, likely under 10 years. Oviparous.

 

Sources Wallach, Van (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: Leptotyphlopidae: Epictinae). Mesoamerican Herpetology 3(2): 216-374