NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Elegant Worm Snake
Afrotyphlops elegans (Peters, 1868)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The elegant blind snake (Afrotyphlops elegans), also called the elegant worm snake, is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family. It was described by Wilhelm Peters in 1868. The species occurs on the island of Príncipe in São Tomé and Príncipe.
Wikipedia contributors, Elegant blind snake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:14:15.086537+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Afrotyphlops elegans (Peters, 1868)
- Name authority
- (Peters, 1868)
- Common name
- Elegant Worm Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Typhlopidae
- Genus
- Afrotyphlops
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderScolecophidia Cope, 1864
- familyTyphlopidae
- genusAfrotyphlops
- speciesAfrotyphlops elegans (Peters, 1868)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Afrotyphlops. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Angola blind snakeAfrotyphlops angolensis (Bocage, 1866) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kakamega blind-snakeAfrotyphlops kaimosae (Loveridge, 1935) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Usambara Spotted Worm SnakeAfrotyphlops gierrai (Mocquard, 1897) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Spotted Blind SnakeAfrotyphlops punctatus (Leach, 1819) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bicoloured blind skinkAfrotyphlops nigrocandidus (Broadley & Wallach, 2000) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Slender Blind SnakeAfrotyphlops obtusus (Peters, 1865) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Afrotyphlops schlegelii (Bianconi, 1849) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Steinhaus' Worm SnakeAfrotyphlops steinhausi (Werner, 1909) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Schmidt’s blind-snakeAfrotyphlops schmidti (Laurent, 1956) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Calabresi’s blind-snakeAfrotyphlops calabresii (Gans & Laurent, 1965) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Afrotyphlops chirioi Trape, 2019 | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tanga Worm SnakeAfrotyphlops platyrhynchus (Sternfeld, 1910) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Typhlops (Ophthalmidion) elegans Peters, 1868 Peters, 1868 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Afrotyphlops&species=elegans Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:65JF4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.