Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
2007
Citation
Somma, L. A. 2007. Geographic distribution: Ramphotyphlops braminus (Brahminy Blindsnake). USA: Florida: Alachua Co. Herpetological Review 38(3):355-356.
Abstract
One adult within a temiite colony, beneath rock. UF 151211; additional specimens (UF 151212-14) were also found. All specimens were collected between 1200-1240 h at the Division of Plant Industry (DPI), Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In 2006, another adult R. braminus was collected by an employee at this site,.near a greenhouse, and . was kept in captivity until it escaped. Rhamphotyphlops is occasionally encountered by employees of DPI and it may be expanding its range, as there is one specimen (UF 147001) collected from the University of Florida campus (Powell Hall) adjacent to the DPI site (29°38'7.9080"N, 82°22'12.4320"W) on 10 May 2006, by J. Weber. The first evidence of this species from Gainesville is an unpublished single specimen record (29°39'23.0761. "N, 82°22'33.0240"W), from November 1999, 1. A. Minno (UF 120116). The first published account referenced a specimen found at the USDA lab on the University of Florida campus (Townsend et al. 2002. Herpetol. Rev. 33:75). Although these specimens reported here do not expand the range of this species, they establish the presence of a population of R. braminus in Gainesville, Alachua Co. This Southeast Asian, parthenogenic typhlopid has been col~ lected from at least 17 counties in Florida