Leptotyphlops tanae, Published, 2007

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 28-29

Leptotyphlops tanae sp. nov. ( Plate 8 , Fig. 4)

Tana worm-snake

Leptotyphlops longicauda — Loveridge, 1936: 231, 1957: 247 (part); List, 1966: 107.

Leptotyphlops longicaudus — Spawls, 1978: 3 (part); Lanza, 1983: 220, 1990: 431; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 34 (part); Spawls et al., 2002: 304 (part).

Leptotyphlops cairi — Hoevers & Johnson, 1982: 182 (part); Lambert, 1985: 66 (part).

Leptotyphlops longicaudatus (sic) — Lambert, 1985: 66 (part).

Holotype. MCZ 40099, a male from old village of Ngatana , ca. one mile northwest from new village of Wema, in the lower Tana River, Coast Region, Kenya (02°30’S, 40°15’E, elevation 50 m), collected by A. Loveridge, 14–21 June 1934.

Paratypes. MCZ 40093–98 , 40100–08 , 40110–11 ; NMW 15464 (2); USNM 12081–82 with the same data as the holotype .

Diagnosis. Leptotyphlops tanae differs from all East African members of the L. cairi complex in its low counts for middorsals (227–260) and subcaudals (25–30) and its very small size. Skull with a large frontoparietal foramen like L. cairi .

Etymology. Named for the lower Tana River, where the type locality is situated.

Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Body cylindrical, with head broadened and flattened, head tubercles prominent, the moderate tail tapers to a stout downturned terminal spine.

Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.36–0.50 head width, mean = 0.40), narrower than nasals and not extending back to the level of the eyes, a weak preoral groove inferiorly. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial with width along lip equal to that of infranasal, large ocular with eye near upper anterior edge, and moderate posterior supralabial. Supraoculars slightly longer than wide, anteriorly wedged between upper nasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between the subequal frontal and postfrontal, which are smaller than the interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals transverse, in contact with the posterior supralabials, occipitals not fused in Kenya specimens (fused in MCZ 40100 and on one side of MCZ 40097) but fused in Somali and Ethiopian specimens. Temporal single. Prominent tubercles on rostral and nasals. No mental, four infralabials .

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate subequal scales, reducing to 10 rows on the tail. Middorsals 249 (227–260, mean 242.86, n = 21); subcaudals 30 (25–30, mean 27.71, n = 21);

Total length/diameter ratio 47 (46–87); total length/tail length ratio 9.8 (10.2–12.4).

Length of holotype 88.5 + 10 = 98.5 mm.

Three to nine (usually seven) middorsal scale rows pigmented light brown to tan (in preservative, flesh pink in life fide Loveridge, 1936), venter cream to pale yellow.

Skull (MCZ 40105) similar to that of Leptotyphlops cairi .

Everted hemipenis (MCZ 40108, SVL 76 mm, tail 7 mm, 27 subcaudals) three subcaudals (1.2 mm) long and 1/4 subcaudal (0.1 mm) wide, nude, uniformly narrow with a pair of lateral longitudinal flaps along basal 2/5 of organ, each flap approximately half as wide as the organ, apical tip with swollen lip,

Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 40105) 93 + 9.5 = 102.5 mm; smallest specimen (MZUF 35209) 43.5 + 4.5 = 48 mm.

Habitat. Termite mound at edge of rice swamp and within six inches of the surface of black cotton soil forming banks in flooded rice fields ( Loveridge, 1936).

Distribution. Southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and northeastern Kenya, 0–400 m ( Plate 5 ).

Additional material. ETHIOPIA. Murle MSNM 2979 . SOMALIA. Afgoi , 02°08’N, 45°08’E, 100 m, MZUF 35209 ; 6 km E of Afgoi MZUF 24205 ; Ceel Cillan MZUF 31458 ; " Southern Somalia " NHCL 1541 .

Figures

PLATE 5. Leptotyphlops. Distribution of the Leptotyphlops parkeri, L. reticulatus, L. longicaudus and L. nigricans species groups in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia.

PLATE 8. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops cairi. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of SK 2124 — Siwa Oasis, Egypt, after Kramer & Schnurrenberger (1963) [as Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus]. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops braccianii. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the holotype of G. variabilis, MSNM 3348b — Adi Ugri, Eritrea, after Scortecci (1928). Figure 3. Leptotyphlops ionidesi sp. nov. Dorsal and lateral views of the head of the holotype, MCZ 57440 — Liwale, Tanzania. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Leptotyphlops tanae sp. nov. Dorsal and lateral views of the head of the holotype, MCZ 40099 — Ngatana, Kenya. The line represents 1 mm to scale.