"Blindsnakes are not very pretty, are rarely noticed, and are
often mistaken for earthworms," admits Blair Hedges, professor
of biology at Penn State University. "Nonetheless, they tell a
very interesting evolutionary story." Hedges and Nicolas Vidal,
of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, are co-
leaders of the team that discovered that blindsnakes are one of
the few groups of organisms that inhabited Madagascar when it
broke from India about 100 million years ago and are still
living today. The results of their study will be published in
the 31 March 2010 issue of the Royal Society journal Biology
Letters. Blindsnakes comprise about 260 different species and
form the largest group of the world's worm-like snakes --
scolecophidians. These burrowing animals typically are found in
southern continents and tropical islands, but occur on all
continents except Antarctica. They have reduced vision -- which
is why they are called "blind" -- and they feed on social
insects including termites and ants. B