Rhinotyphlops boylei FitzSimons

Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, Van, 2009, 2255, Zootaxa 2255, pp. 1-100 : 59

Rhinotyphlops boylei FitzSimons

( Fig. 10B)

Boyle’s beaked blind-snake

Typhlops boylei FitzSimons, V., 1932 , Ann. Transvaal Mus., 15(1): 38. Type locality: “Gemsbok Pan, Ghanzi District ” [= W Kalahari, Botswana] (21.567°S, 21.783°E, elevation 1150 m), holotype TM 14695 (formerly VLKE 805), collected by A.M. Boyle, 28 April 1930; FitzSimons, V., 1935: 308, 1962: 69, fig. 7; 1966a: 38; 1970 & 1974: 67, 1978: 57; Parker, 1936: 120; Mertens, 1955: 86, 1971: 75; Marx, 1958: 496; Isemonger, 1968: 83, 1983: 86; Roux- Estève, 1974: 151, figs. 13.24 & 104, 1975a: 495, fig. 30; Hahn, 1977: 37, 1980: 53; Poynton & Broadley, 1978: 941; Welch, 1982: 128, 1994: 65; Broadley, 1983 & 1990a: 43, fig. 6; Haacke, 1984: 177; Auerbach, 1987: 144; Branch, 1988a & 1994: 47, 1988b: 11; Griffin et al., 1989: 37; Marais, 1992: 179: 3 figs.; Mierte, 1992: 23; Wallach, 1993: 217, 2003: 239; Frank & Ramus, 1995: 253; Griffin, 2003: 87.

Rhinotyphlops boylei — Marais, 2004: 280, 1 fig.; Branch, 1998a: 53; Wallach, 1994: 218, 1998a: 182, 1998b: 326; Mattison, 1999: 147; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 78; Griffin, 2003: 87; Murphy, 2003: 552; Bauer, 2004: 202; Brogard, 2005: 112; Alexander & Marais, 2007: 50.

Description. Snout prominent, with an obtusely angular edge; rostral large, oviform, extending back to the level of the eyes, ventrally about half width of head at level of nostrils; frontal hexagonal; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between preocular and ocular; eye distinct near anterior edge of ocular; nasal in contact with first and second labials, nasal suture from first; SIP T-X (N2, P/O, O, O). MSR 24–28 (mean = 26.4, n = 9); MD 344–379 (mean = 359.3, n = 9); vertebrae 211–212 (mean = 211.7, n = 3); MD/V ratio 1.64–1.79 (mean = 1.72, n = 3); L/D ratio 33–53 (mean = 44.5, n = 10). Five to seven dorsal scale rows olive brown, with the pigment concentrated at the base of each scale and reduced on the lateral rows, uniform yellowish below. Largest specimen (TM 49421–Nossob Camp, Kalahari Transfrontier Park) has a total length of 223 mm.

Habitat. Kalahari sand with Acacia woodland.

Distribution. Central Namibia, southwestern Botswana and adjacent Northern Cape Province of South Africa, 915–1155 m.

Localities. NAMIBIA. Hoffnung ( Parker, 1936); Otavi (DM, FitzSimons, 1962). BOTSWANA. Dakar SAM 47317; Gemsbok Pan, Ghanzi TM 14695 (holotype of Typhlops boylei ); FMNH 17755 (paratype of Typhlops boylei ); Ghanzi BMNH 1933.9.9.45–48; Mabuasehube Pan NMZB-UM 15184, 15203; Mongalatsela, Ghanzi BMNH 1931.2.3.3. KALAHARI TRANSFRONTIER PARK. Kaspersdraai TM 68061; Nossob Camp TM 54676.