Letheobia pallida Cope

(Fig 4 A)

Pallid gracile blind-snake

Letheobia pallida Cope 1869, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 322. Type locality: Zanzibar [Island, Tanzania], collected by C. Cooke, lectotype MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. 504), designated herein; Barbour & Loveridge 1929: 295; Malnate 1971: 370.

Typhlops pallidus – Boulenger 1893: 54, 1915b: 616 (part); Tornier 1896: 66; Sternfeld 1908: 242, 1910: 12; Loveridge 1916: 82, 1924: 4 (part), 1936: 227; Werner 1921: 330; Moreau & Pakenham 1941: 108 (part); Loveridge 1957: 244 (part); Pitman 1974: 64 (part); Broadley & Howell 1991: 21 (part).

Rhinotyphlops pallidus – Roux-Estève 1974: 217, Fig. 151, 1975: 445 (part); Hahn 1980: 32; Meirte 1992: 20, Fig. 35; Broadley & Broadley 1996: 45 (part); McDiarmid et al. 1999: 83 (part); Spawls et al. 2002: 295 (part); Spawls et al. 2006: 92 (part).

Description. Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal crescentic; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular, the latter separated from the lip by a large subocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, O, O); scale rows 24-22-22; MD 418– 433; vertebrae 274; MD/V ratio 1.54–1.58; L/D ratio 53–62. Colourless.

Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 5723 – Zanzibar Island) 192 mm in total length.

Habitat. Coastal mosaic. One of the types was taken from a well (Cope 1869).

Distribution. Endemic to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania (Fig 10).

Localities. Zanzibar Island (Pakenham, 1983) ANSP 3300 (paralectotype); BMNH 68.2.29.135, 1950.1.5.34; MCZ 5723 (lectotype).

Comment. C. Cooke collected the two syntypes from Zanzibar, East Africa: ANSP 3300 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 411) & MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 504). Barbour & Loveridge (1929: 295) cited MCZ 5723 as the “ holotype and genotype”whereas Malnate (1971: 370) cited ANSP 3300 as a “ syntype,” noting that Cope’s Essex Institute specimen (no. 504) was the presumed MCZ “ holotype ” listed by Barbour & Loveridge. In support of this the MCZ Reptile Catalogue reads “from a well” in the remarks column; the specimen was received from the Peabody Museum, which incorporated the Essex Institute, in 1886. However, in Cope’s description (1869: 322) he states that the ANSP specimen he described was “presented by C. Cooke to the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. (Mus. 504)” and that “it was taken from a well.” His measurement of the specimen was 160 mm; the MCZ specimen measures 196 mm in length. We have examined both specimens: ANSP 3300 bears an old tag reading 411 and measures 158 mm in length. We hereby designate the larger and better preserved specimen at the MCZ (5723) as the lectotype.