Afrotyphlops Broadley & Wallach, 2009

Type species. Acontias punctatus Leach in Bowdich, 1819

Species content. Afrotyphlops angeli (?), Af. angolensis, Af. anomalus, Af. bibronii, Af. blanfordii, Af. brevis, Af. congestus, Af. decorosus, Af. elegans, Af. fornasinii, Af. gierrai, Af. kaimosae, Af. liberiensis, Af. lineolatus, Af. manni (?), Af. mucruso, Af. nanus, Af. nigrocandidus, Af. obtusus, Af. punctatus, Af. rondoensis, Af. schlegelii, Af. schmidti, Af. steinhausi, Af. tanganicanus, and Af. usambaricus.

Diagnosis. Afrotyphlops can be distinguished from all other typhlopoids by the combination of a T-0 or T-II SIP, snout either rounded in profile or pointed with a keratinized edge, broad rostral, scale row reduction (except in Af. kaimosae), large body size, pigmented dorsum and (presumably vestigial) left lung. Small- to large-sized (total length 87–950 mm), stout- to slender-bodied (length/width ratio 17–95, but usually 20–40) snakes with 18–44 scale rows (usually with reduction), 232–624 total middorsals, short to moderate tail (0.7–2.9% total length) with 5–16 subcaudals (length/width ratio 0.6–1.6), and apical spine minute. Moderate to broad rostral (0.40–0.75 head width), inferior nasal suture in contact with first supralabial (or rarely the rostral), preocular in contact with second, second and third, or third supralabial, eye moderate with distinct pupil, and postoculars 2–7. Lateral tongue papillae present; vestigial left lung present in most species, tracheal, cardiac and right lungs multicameral (with 18–52 + 1–13 + 1–12 chambers, respectively); testes usually unsegmented; hemipenis eversible, lacking retrocloacal sacs, and rectal caecum large (0.5–5.7% SVL). Coloration variable with three main dorsum types: uniformly brown to black, with lineate effect due to darkened scale edges, or with a dark mottled or blotched pattern on a lighter background color; venter usually cream or yellow and immaculate; supralabials, lower snout, chin, cloacal region and subcaudals may be light.

Phylogenetic definition. Includes the MRCA of Afrotyphlops punctatus and Af. obtusus and all descendants thereof, and all species more closely related to Af. punctatus than to the type species of the 15 other typhlopid genera listed here.

Etymology. Name refers to the African distribution of all species.

Distribution. Most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Remarks. Note that we include in Afrotyphlops several species placed in other genera by Hedges et al. (2014). These are Af. angeli and Af. manni, which are tentatively allied with Afrotyphlops based on stout body form and dorsal pigmentation. These species are very poorly known, and without molecular data they cannot be unambiguously placed in any afrotyphlopine genus, but we suggest they more closely resemble Afrotyphlops. This follows recent classifications placing these species in Afrotyphlops (Wallach et al. 2014).

Additionally, Hedges et al. (2014) placed Madatyphlops calabresii, Mad. comoroensis, Mad. cuneirostris, and Mad. platyrhynchus in Afrotyphylops, but they are clearly allied with Madatyphlops based on a number of characters (Tables 2, 3, 5). The species Mad. calabresii and Mad. cuneirostris exhibit a T-V SIP, a condition otherwise unknown in Afrotyphlopinae but common in Madatyphlopinae (Table 2). Similarly, Mad. comoroensis and Mad. platyrhynchus have a T-III SIP, common in Madatyphlopinae but otherwise unknown in Afrotyphlopinae (Table 2). Unlike Afrotyphlops, none of these species exhibit a vestigial left lung, the nasal suture contacts the second supralabial instead of the first, the supralabials increase in size posteriorly instead of being low and flat, they exhibit 2–3 postoculars instead of 3–5, the rostral is <50% of head width instead of 50–75%, and they are less than 275mm TL, rather than> 300mm (Tables 2, 3). Additionally, the visceral anatomy of these species is very similar to Madatyphlops, but markedly different from Afrotyphlops (Table 5).