Types of worm snakes

Amerotyphlops is a genus of blind snakes in the family Typhlopidae. Like all typhlopids, these are small fossorial snakes built for a life spent tunneling through soil, leaf litter, and rotting wood. The genus was split off from the older catch-all genus Typhlops to group together the New World species, and it now contains the American members of this lineage. Our database holds 10+ species, including the Reticulate Worm Snake, Brongersma's Worm Snake, the Yucatecan Worm Snake, and the Coffee Worm Snake.

These snakes are easy to mistake for earthworms at a glance. They are slender and cylindrical with smooth, tightly overlapping scales that give the body a glossy, polished look, a blunt head that is barely distinct from the neck, and a short tail that often ends in a tiny spine. Their most defining feature is in the name. The eyes are reduced to dark spots beneath translucent head scales and can detect light and dark but not form real images, which is all a permanently underground animal needs. Most species are small, commonly in the range of a few inches to roughly a foot, and they are usually pink, brown, gray, or blackish.

The range of Amerotyphlops is centered on the warmer parts of the Americas, spanning Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and into South America. They favor habitats with loose, workable substrate where they can burrow and where their prey is abundant, including tropical forests, savannas, gardens, and agricultural ground such as plantations. Because they live below the surface, they are far more common than they appear and are most often found when someone turns over a log, a rock, or a shovelful of damp soil.

These are harmless, non-venomous snakes. They have no venom and no fangs, their mouths are tiny, and they pose no danger to people or pets. Their defense is to flee into the soil, and some may press the tail spine against a handler or release a musky fluid rather than attempt to bite. As a general safety note that applies to wild animals overall, it is still best to leave any wild snake alone and let it move on. If a genuine snake emergency ever occurs, in the United States contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or call local emergency services.

Ecologically, Amerotyphlops snakes are specialist predators of soft-bodied social insects, feeding mainly on ants and termites and especially on their eggs, larvae, and pupae. They follow chemical trails into nests and feed in bulk on the brood. Reproduction is by laying eggs, and clutches are typically small. Behaviorally they are secretive and largely nocturnal at the surface, doing nearly all of their activity underground, which is why these abundant little snakes are so rarely seen even where they are common.