Letheobia wittei (Roux-Estève)

(Fig 5 B)

De Witte’s gracile blind-snake

Typhlops vrydaghi – (part) Witte 1966: 50.

Rhinotyphlops wittei Roux-Estève 1974, Mem. Mus. Natn. Hist. Nat., sér. A. Zool. 87: 239, Fig. 179. Type locality: Vandia-Poshe, rég. riv. Liki-Bembe, terr. Libenge, Distr. Ubangi, Prov. Équateur, Zaire [= Democratic Republic of Congo] (ca. 04°30’N, 19°00’E, elevation 520 m), collected by Cremer & Neumann, 23 August 1948, holotype IRSNB 2511; Roux-Estève 1975: 445; Hahn 1980: 36; Lang 1990: 20; Meirte 1992: 20; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 88. Letheobia wittei – Chirio & Ineich, 2006: 42.

Description. Snout with an angular horizontal edge. Rostral very broad, rounded posteriorly; frontal very large and deep, crescentic, in broad contact with nasals; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex wedged between preocular and ocular, which is separated from the labials by a very large subocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from second labial; SIP II (N1, P, S, S); scale rows 20-20-20; MD 501–505; vertebrae 368–374; MD/V ratio 1.35–1.36; L/D ratio 68. Very faintly pigmented.

Size. Largest specimen (IRSNB 2511 – holotype) 310 mm in total length.

Habitat. Lowland rain forest.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality, opposite Bangui in Libenge Territory, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (Fig. 11).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Vania-Posche, IRSNB 2511 (holotype), 2512 (paratype).