#Internet Archive being down is genuinely fucking up my workflow

[critter-of-the-day]

12th of October 2024: Eleven-striped Blind Snake

For the first time ever, I have decided to draw today’s snake (basing it upon the description we have and the fact they’re a blind snake), and it will quickly become apparent why that is. It turns out that it may be impossible to properly know anything about the Eleven-striped Blind Snake (Epictia undecimstriata) [1].

Based upon the original description, they are around 10-34 cm in length and of a brown colour. Their genus name Epictia is in reference to the absence (deriving from the latin e, without) of colour (pictus meaning painted) on their back. They do however have, as one may guess, 11 stripes, some of which may have yellow or red colouration [1].

Now they were originally described in 1845 based upon a 23 cm long specimen from Bolivia, specifically from Santa Cruz de la Sierra collected in 1839 [2]. However, this preserved individual has since been lost from the Paris museum where they were stored. In addition, “Santa Cruz de la Sierra” may have been referring to a different place in Bolivia in the 19th century. So essentially, we don’t know where they are and have no example to compare any other snakes to. Unsurprisingly, the IUCN has marked them as “Data Deficient” [3].

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [Image: Me :) (sorry)]