Common names: Large shield snake.

Pseudotyphlops is a monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of snakes containing the species P. philippinus, which is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. No subspecies are currently recognized.

Geographic range

Found in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 in central and southern Uva

Uva Province

Uva is Sri Lanka's second least populated province, with 1,187,335 people, created in 1896. It consists of two districts: Badulla බදුල්ල பதுளை and Moneragala මොනරාගල மொனராகல. The provincial capital is Badulla. Uva is bordered by Eastern, Southern and Central provinces...

 and Sabaragamuwa Province

Sabaragamuwa Province

Sabaragamuwa, is a province of Sri Lanka, and contains two main cities: Ratnapura and Kegalle. Sabaragamuwa University is in Belihuloya. It is named after its former indigenous inhabitants, namely the Sabara, an indic term for hunter gatherer tribes, a term seldom used in ancient Sri...

s. Vertical range is from near sea level to 900 m elevation. The type locality given is "Philippinschen Inseln": in error, according to Smith (1943).

Taxonomy

Pseudotyphlops is also mentioned in the synonymy of Ramphotyphlops

Ramphotyphlops

Ramphotyphlops is a genus of non-venomous blind snakes found in southern and southeast Asia and Australia, with one species inhabiting the Americas, as well as many islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. They occur in a wide variety of habitats...

, a genus of blind snakes, but then as a name proposed by Fitzinger

Leopold Fitzinger

Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger was an Austrian zoologist.Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the university of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin...

 in 1843. However, at the time this name was already preoccupied by Schlegel's

Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history...

Pseudo-typhlops (1939).