Epictinae (commonly called slender blind snakes or threadsnakes) are a subfamily of snakes found in the New World and equatorial Africa. Members of this subfamily tend to have short, thick tails, and the fewest subcaudal scales. It comprises two tribes, three subtribes, ten genera, and 86 species.
Taxonomy
Tribe Epictini, New World snakes
Subtribe Epictina
Genus Epictia Gray, 1845 (43 species)
Genus Habrophallos A. Martins, Koch, Pinto, Folly, Fouquet & Passos, 2020 – collared blind snake (monotypic)
Genus Siagonodon W. Peters, 1881 (4 species)
Subtribe Renina
Genus Rena Baird & Girard, 1853 (10 species)
Genus Trilepida Hedges, 2011 (14 species)
Subtribe Tetracheilostomina
Genus Mitophis Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009 (4 species)
Genus Tetracheilostoma Jan, 1861 (3 species)
Tribe Rhinoleptini, African snakes
Genus Tricheilostoma Jan, 1860 (5 species)
Genus Rhinoleptus Orejas-Miranda, Roux-Estève & Guibé, 1970 – Villiers's blind snake (monotypic)
Genus Rhinoguinea J.-F. Trape 2014 – Rhinoguinea magna (monotypic)
Distribution
The subfamily Epictinae is distributed in the New World and in equatorial Africa. In the New World it
ranges from North America (California, Utah, and Kansas) south through Middle and South America
(exclusive of the high Andes) to Uruguay and Argentina on the Atlantic side. It also occurs on San Salvador
Island (Bahamas), Hispaniola, the Lesser Antilles, Cozumel Island (Mexico), Islas de Bahia and Swan Islands
(Honduras), San Andres and Providencia Islands (Colombia), Bonaire, Margarita Islands, and Trinidad. It also
occurs in equatorial Africa, from southern Senegal, Guinea, and Bioko Island in the west to Ethiopia in the
east.
