Common names: Christmas Island blind snake.

Ramphotyphlops exocoeti is a blind snake

Typhlopidae

The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel like burrowing structure. They live underground in burrows, and since...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 endemic to Christmas Island

Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....

. No subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 are currently recognized.

Geographic range

Found on Christmas Island

Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

)
The type locality given is

Conservation status

This species is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List with the following criteria: D2 (v2.3, 1994). This means that it is not Critically Endangered or Endangered, but is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future. This is because the population is very small and characterized by an acute restriction in its area of occupancy. It is therefore prone to the effects of human activities (or stochastic events, the impact of which is increased by human activities) within a very short period of time in an unforeseeable future. Therefore, it is possible that this species may become Critically Endangered or even Extinct within a very short period of time. Year assessed: 1996.