Anilius scytale (Linnaeus, 1758)

Size

Anilius scytale (Linnaeus, 1758) is a moderate-sized snake that reaches approximately 70 cm (28 in) in length.

Distribution

This species is found in the Amazon rainforest of South America, the Guianas, and Trinidad and Tobago; its full geographic range spans the northern South American tropics, from southern and eastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, south through the Amazon Basin of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil.

Type Locality

The given type locality for this species is "Indiis".

Habit

It is a fossorial (burrowing) species that is rarely seen.

Morphology

It has a cylindrical body with a uniform diameter, a very short tail, bright red and black banding, and reduced eyes that sit beneath large head scales.

Evolutionary Significance

It is considered the snake that most closely resembles the original ancestral condition of snakes, including having a lizard-like skull.

Reproduction

Anilius scytale is reported to be ovoviviparous.

Diet

Its diet includes beetles, caecilians (burrowing legless amphibians), amphisbaenids (worm lizards, which are legless lizards), small fossorial snakes, fish (particularly swamp eels), and frogs.

Foraging Behavior

It forages for food on the ground at night, and will sometimes forage in water as well.