Leptotyphlops boulengeri (Boettger)

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 18-19

Leptotyphlops boulengeri (Boettger) ( Plate 6 , Fig. 3)

Lamu worm-snake

Glauconia boulengeri Boettger, 1913 , Reise in Ostafrika, 3: 354, pl. 25, fig. 1. Type locality: Manda Island, Kenya (02°18’S, 40°58’E, near sea level), holotype SMF 16700 (formerly SMF 7066a), collected by A. Voeltzkow, 10–14 February 1903; Boulenger, 1915b: 617; Loveridge, 1924: 4.

Leptotyphlops boulengeri — Loveridge, 1936: 230, 1957: 246; Hahn, 1978: 479, 1980: 8; Spawls, 1978: 2; Meirte, 1992: 16; Broadley & Wallach, 1996: 162; Wallach, 1996: 426; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 23; Spawls et al., 2002: 300.

Diagnosis. A member of the Leptotyphlops reticulatus species group, differing from the other species in its low middorsal and subcaudal counts and colouration.

Description. Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, distinct from body, the short tail tapers abruptly to a thorn-like apical spine, recurved ventrally.

Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.29–0.38 head width, mean = 0.35), subequal to the nasals anteriorly, tapering to a blunt point posteriorly and not reaching the level of the eyes, a deep preoral groove present ventrally but rostral not extending below lip level. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), moderate anterior supralabial that extends dorsally to a point level with the nostril and its width along lip 1.5–2 times that of infranasal, large ocular with eye at upper anterior edge, and moderate posterior supralabial. Supraoculars small, pentagonal, anteriorly wedged between upper nasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between frontal and postfrontal, the former lozengeshaped, the latter subhexagonal, both much smaller than the broader and deeper hexagonal interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals transverse, subequal to the enlarged occipitals, in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, five infralabials.

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales. Reduction to 10 rows on the tail takes place lateral to the crescent-shaped cloacal shield. Total middorsals 179–192; subcaudals 18–22.

Total length/tail ratio 10.3–12.7; total length/diameter ratio 29–37.

Dorsum light brown, each scale beige or pink with a brown border, venter slightly paler. Flesh pink in life ( Loveridge, 1936).

Size. Largest specimen ( MCZ 40085 — Lamu Island , Kenya) 187 + 16 = 203 mm .

Habitat. Beneath rotting grass lying on red soil at the edeg of one of the native gardens ( Loveridge, 1936).

Distribution. Endemic to Manda and Lamu Islands off the northern coast of Kenya, near sea level ( Plate 5 ).

Localities. KENYA. Lamu Island MCZ 40084–85 , 40087 *; Manda Island ( Boettger, 1913) MCZ 40088 .

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 6. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops parkeri. Dorsal and lateral views of the holotype, BMNH 1949.2.3.47 — Degeh Bur, Ethiopia. The line represents 1 mm to scale. After Broadley, 1999. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops reticulatus. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the holotype, BMNH 1946.1.16.53 — Wagar, Golis Mts, Somalia. From Lanza, Snakes of Somalia (in prep.). Drawings by E. Wade. Figure 3. Leptotyphlops boulengeri. Dorsal. lateral and ventral views of the head of MCZ 40085 — Lamu Island, Kenya. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Leptotyphlops drewesi. Dorsal and lateral views of the head of the holotype, CAS 85756 — 10 km south of Isiolo, Kenya, after Wallach (1996). The line represents 1 mm to scale.