Rediscovery of the Grenada Bank Endemic Typhlops tasymicris (Squamata: Typhlopidae)

Abstract

Abstract Typhlops tasymicris was known previously from only two specimens, both immature females collected on Grenada in 1968. In June 2010, we rediscovered the species on Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where we encountered five individuals (and captured four) on the forested slopes above Chatham Bay. The new specimens agree closely with the two previously reported individuals for all scale characters and coloration, but they differ in sizes and proportions. At least two of the new specimens are adults, but all seem to be females. This first record of a typhlopid snake in the Grenadines suggests a greater range than indicated by the earlier specimens. Although suitable habitat occurs nowhere else on Union Island, the species could occur elsewhere in the Grenadines where relatively mature forests persist. DNA sequence data clearly show a closer affinity with South American species than with any West Indian congeners.