12 New Snakes Described

In the journal Zootaxa twelve new species of snakes are described from Turkey, Hispaniola and Cuba.

In Eleven new species of snakes of the genus Typhlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from Hispaniola and Cuba. (THOMAS & S.B. HEDGES) in Zootaxa 1400: 1-26 (2007)
11 species of blindsnake are described. Four of these are from Hispaniola and seven are from Cuba.

The Hispaniola snakes were previously, according to the journal abstract, confused with Typhlops hectus while the Cuban snakes are closely related to Typhlops biminiensis.

DNA and morphological analysis is the basis for the re-classification and new classification of these snakes, and suggests at least 15 cryptic species are confused with Typhlops hectus or Typhlops biminiensis. While the genetic analysis is not published at this time, the authors are confident that the morphological differences are sufficient to diagnose the new species.

In A new species of Rhynchocalamus (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) from Turkey (K. OLGUN, A. AVCI, C. ILGAZ, N. UZUM & C. YILMAZ) in Zootaxa 1399: 57-68 (2007) a single new species of Rhynchocalamus is named.

Rhynchocalamus barani is described from Turkey and is diagnosed as different than other Rhynchocalamus species based on color-pattern, upper labials (1 vs. 2) , number of ventralia (163-173 vs. 180-240), and dorsalia (17 vs. 15). The new species was found in the Amanos Mountains in Turkey in May of 2006.