NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Afrotyphlops schlegelii (Bianconi, 1849)
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.
Schlegel’s Beaked blind snake (Afrotyphlops schlegelii) in South Africa
Bernard DUPONT · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Afrotyphlops schlegelii, commonly known as Schlegel's beaked blind snake or Schlegel's giant blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to eastern and southern Africa, and bears the distinction of being the world's largest typhlopid. It is harmless to humans and lives exclusively on a diet of termites.
Wikipedia contributors, Afrotyphlops schlegelii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T14:15:52.998996+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Afrotyphlops schlegelii (Bianconi, 1849)
- Name authority
- (Bianconi, 1849)
- 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 schlegelii (Bianconi, 1849)
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 |
| Elegant Worm SnakeAfrotyphlops elegans (Peters, 1868) | 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 |
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Onychocephalus petersii Bocage, 1873 Bocage, 1873 | synonym |
| Typhlops (Onychocephalus) humbo Bocage, 1886 Bocage, 1886 | synonym |
| Typhlops hottentotus Bocage, 1893 Bocage, 1893 | synonym |
| Typhlops schlegelii Bianconi, 1849 Bianconi, 1849 | synonym |
| Typhylops schlegelii Bianconi, 1849 Bianconi, 1849 | synonym |
| Typhlops schlegelii Bianconi, 1850 Bianconi, 1850 | 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=schlegelii 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.
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:65JFV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.