NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Small-eyed File Snake

Mehelya stenophthalmus (Mocquard, 1887)

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.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Mehelya stenophthalmus (Mocquard, 1887)
Name authority: (Mocquard, 1887)
Common name: Small-eyed File Snake
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Mehelya
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
infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
familyLamprophiidae
genusMehelya
speciesMehelya stenophthalmus (Mocquard, 1887)

Close classified relatives

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

Species	Classification	Source status
Gabou File SnakeMehelya gabouensis Trape & Mané, 2005	LamprophiidaeChordata	Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 65 records assigned to Lamprophiidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Heterolepis stenophthalmus Mocquard, 1887 Mocquard, 1887	synonym
Gonionotophis microps Boulenger, 1911 Boulenger, 1911	synonym
Simocephalus rostralis Sternfeld, 1910 Sternfeld, 1910	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Guinea-Bissau, Guinea (Conakry), Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin ?, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Uganda, Gabon, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Equatorial Guinea

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=Mehelya&species=stenophthalmus 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:89DGV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.