Thai National Parks

Argyrophis diardii, commonly known as Diard's blind snake, the Indochinese blind snake, the large blind snake, or the large worm snake, is a species of harmless snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to South Asia and Southeast Asia. There are two recognized subspecies.

Taxonomy

A. diardii was first described by Hermann Schlegel in 1839, as Typhlops Diardii. The type locality of Schlegel's specimen was "Cochinchina ". Saint Girons (1972: 32) described it as "Cochinchina sans certitude ", and (1980: 56) as "East Indies".

Etymology

Both the specific name, diardii, and the common name, "Diard's blindsnake", are in honor of French naturalist Pierre-Médard Diard.

Subspecies

Two subspecies of Typhlops diardii are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies:

• Argyrophis diardii diardii
• Argyrophis diardii platyventris

Description

A. diardii is heavy-bodied for a blindsnake. It has 22–25 scale rows around the body at midbody. The belly is distinctly flat.

Distribution and habitat

A. diardii is found in India (Jalpaiguri-West Bengal, as far west as Dun Valley in Assam), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Nias Island, Sumatra, Web Island (off northwest Sumatra), Bangka, and Borneo.

The preferred natural habitats of A. diardii are forest, shrubland, and grassland, but it has also been found in agricultural areas.

This article uses material from Wikipedia released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike Licence 3.0. Eventual photos shown in this page may or may not be from Wikipedia, please see the license details for photos in photo by-lines.