Leonard's Burrowing Snake

Open encyclopedia reference

Anomochilus leonardi, also known by the common names Leonard's pipe snake, Leonard's burrowing snake, and Malayan giant blind snake, is a species of snake in the dwarf pipesnake family Anomochilidae. The species is native to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, where it inhabits primary and mature secondary dipterocarp forests at altitudes of 250–500 m (820–1,640 ft). Described by British herpetologist Malcolm Arthur Smith in 1940, the species is a stout, cylindrical snake with a small head and short, conical tail. It has a snout–vent length of up to 390 mm (15 in), a glossy black to purplish upperside, and a black underside. It also has two rows of elliptical yellow spots along the back, a yellow bar across the snout, and a large red patch on the subcaudal scales. It can be told apart from the other species in its genus by the absence of pale stripes along its sides, an unpaired parietofrontal scale, and the presence of the pale patches along its back. The species is nocturnal and fossorial (adapted to living underground).

Wikipedia contributors, Anomochilus leonardi; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:23:30.859482+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Anomochilus leonardi Smith, 1940

Name authority

Smith, 1940

Common name

Leonard's Burrowing Snake

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Anomochilidae

Genus

Anomochilus

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
10. suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
11. infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
12. familyAnomochilidae
13. genusAnomochilus
14. speciesAnomochilus leonardi Smith, 1940

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Anomochilus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 3 records assigned to Anomochilidae.

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.

1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Anomochilus&species=leonardi 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:677Y8. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.