Southwestern Blind Snake (Rena humilis humilis)
Description: Adults 7 - 16 inches long. Hatchlings are around 4 - 5 inches long. A very thin snake with a blunt head and tail. The tail is tipped with a small spine. Eyes are nonfunctional dark spots visible under translucent plates. The scales are shiny and cycloid. Belly plates are not enlarged. The lower jaw is countersunk. This snake can be mistaken for a large worm. Coloring is brown, purple, or pink.
Habitat: Inhabits areas where the soil is suitable for burrowing: brushy mountain slopes, deserts, rocky hillsides, washes near streams, beach sand.
Range: This subspecies, Rena humilis humilis - Southwestern Threadsnake, occurs along the Southern California coast - east, north of the range of R.h.cahuilae, into southern Nevada and western Arizona, - south along the west coast of Baja California, - and north, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with isolated records from the Sierra Nevada/Tehachapi Mountains region at 9 mile canyon and Jawbone canyon.
Found in these States:
AZ |
CA
Diet: Eats ants and termites and their larvae and pupae, and occasionally other small insects. When hunting for food, burrows under roots, rocks, and into ants nests. Slender body allows them to forage in their ant and termite prey's burrow systems.
Reproduction: Mates in the spring, lays eggs July - August. Females tend to the eggs, and may use communal nests.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Scaled Reptiles
»» Suborder: Serpentes
»» Infraorder: Scolecophidia
»» Family: Leptotyphlopidae - Blind Snakes
»» Genus: Rena
»» Species: Rena humilis - Western Blind Snake
»» Subspecies: Rena humilis humilis - Southwestern Blind Snake
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rena humilis", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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