Guinea Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch

Adalsteinsson, Solny A., Branch, William R., Trape, Sébastien, Vitt, Laurie J. & Hedges, S. Blair, 2009, Molecular phylogeny, classification, and biogeography of snakes of the Family Leptotyphlopidae (Reptilia, Squamata), Zootaxa 2244, pp. 1-50 : 24-25

Genus Guinea Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch , New Genus

Type species. Stenostoma (Tricheilostoma) bicolor Jan, 1860: 1 .

Diagnosis. Species of Guinea have 14 midbody scale rows, 12 midtail scale rows, 173–288 middorsal scale rows, 6–16 subcaudals, three (two in G. greenwelli ) supralabials, small anterior supralabials (large in G. sundewalli ), 112–188 mm maximum adult total length, a body shape of 24–69.2 (total length/width), a relative tail length of 2.4–7.0 %, a tail shape of 1.4–4.3, no striped pattern, a brown dorsum (unpigmented in G. greenwelli ), and paler brown venter (Table 2). They are distinguished from the other genus in this tribe, Rhinoleptus , by having 14 midbody scale rows (versus 16), 12 midtail rows (versus 14), 173–288 middorsal rows (versus 302–546), 6–16 subcaudals (versus 21–28), and a body shape of 24–69.2 (versus 67–77). Only one species was included in the molecular phylogenetic analyses ( Figs. 3–4).

Content. Four species ( Table 1; Fig. 9).

Distribution. Guinea is distributed primarily in rainforests of West Africa, including Guinea , southern Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, southwestern Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko Island, southwestern Chad, and Central African Republic ( Fig. 11).

Etymology. The generic name is here considered a feminine, Latinized noun referring to the distribution of the genus in the Guinea region, which is a broad area along the southern portion of West Africa (approximately from the country of Guinea to Cameroon). The origin of the word is uncertain but is thought to be derived from either the Susu or Berber languages of Africa, later modified in Portuguese ( Guiné) and English ( Guinea ).

Remarks. This genus comprises the former bicolor Group of " Leptotyphlops , " most recently discussed by Wallach and Boundy (2005), who noted similarities between it and several species in the New World.