Digging Into Blindsnakes' Morphology: Description Of The Skull, Lower Jaw, And Cervical Vertebrae Of Two Amerotyphlops (Hedges Et Al., 2014) (Serpentes, Typhlopidae) With Comments On The Typhlopoidean Skull Morphological Diversity

Scolecophidians are small fossorial snakes that exhibit several osteological innovations, most of which driven by their extreme body miniaturization. Considering that data on skull morphology has proven to be relevant in terms of scolecophidian systematics and morphofunctional evolution, herein, we aim to describe in detail the skull, lower jaw, and cervical vertebrae of Amerotyphlops brongersmianus and A. reticulatus. Our results suggest that the investigated osteology of Amerotyphlops resembles several new world typhlopid species, with reduced interspecific variation in the basicranium, lower jaw and cervical vertebrae. Both species exhibit characters states that are typically conserved intragenerically amongst typhlopoids, such as the presence of a single parietal, paired supraoccipitals, and otooccipitals that are in contact medially, and the basioccipital participating in the formation of the foramen magnum. We discuss possible systematically important osteological skull variations among typhlopoids and provide a comprehensive comparison of these taxa based on literature and data gathered herein.