Leptotyphlops latirostris (Sternfeld)

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 42-43

Leptotyphlops latirostris (Sternfeld) ( Plate 12 , Fig.2)

Uvira worm snake

Glauconia latirostris Sternfeld, 1912 , Wiss. Deutsch. Zen.-Afrika Exp., 4: 264. Type locality: northwest shore of Lake Tanganyika, elevation above 775 m [= E Kivu Region, Democratic Republic of Congo], holotype ZMB 22376, collected by R. Grauer, 1907–08; Boulenger, 1915a: 198.

Glauconia lepezi — Witte, 1933: 122.

Leptotyphlops conjuncta — Loveridge, 1933: 224; Witte, 1933: 122.

Leptotyphlops conjunctus latirostris — Laurent, 1956: 82, fig. 14, 1960: 20; Witte, 1962: 46; Hahn, 1980: 11; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 26.

Leptotyphlops conjuctus — Meirte, 1992: 15.

Diagnosis. A member of the Leptotyphlops scutifrons group with 12 scale rows around the tail. The rostral is broad, resembling that of L. s. merkeri rather than L. s. pitmani, but is more tapered posteriorly. This appears to be the smallest form in the L. scutifrons complex, the 155 mm holotype being the largest known specimen.

Description. Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, the short tail tapers abruptly to a small terminal spine.

Snout rounded, frontal fused with rostral, rostral broad (0.58–0.59 head width, mean = 0.59), wedgeshaped and about twice the width of the supranasals and extending well beyond the level of the eyes; a distinct preoral groove present ventrally. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by the infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), a small anterior supralabial with width along lip equal to that of infranasal, large ocular with the small eye at the upper anterior edge, and moderate to tall posterior supralabial. Supraoculars pentagonal, anteriorly wedged between supranasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between rostral and hexagonal postfrontal, which is smaller than a supraocular and the hexagonal interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals oblique, slightly larger than the fused occipitals, in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, four infralabials.

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales, reduction to 12 scale rows on the tail (10 in FMNH 168829) takes place just posterior to the subtriangular cloacal shield. Middorsals 206–212 (n = 2); subcaudals 24–25.

Total length/diameter ratio 43.5–58.1 ( Laurent, 1956); total length/tail ratio 9.3–13.0 in males, 13.5–14.7 in females ( Laurent, 1956).

Dorsum golden brown, venter lighter with white-bordered scales, chin and throat white.

Size. Largest specimen (type, Sternfeld, 1912) 155 mm.

Habitat. Savanna below 1000 m, a mosaic of East African evergreen bushland and secondary Acacia wooded grassland, but now largely converted to cultivation steppe.

Distribution. Northern shores of Lake Tanganyika and the Ruzizi valley in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and western Burundi, 700–1000 m ( Plate 11 ).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (KIVU). Baraka ( Laurent, 1956); Kabunambo, Kagando, Luberizi ( Laurent, 1960); Luvingi ( Laurent, 1956); Makobola ( Laurent, 1960); Runingo ( Laurent, 1960) MCZ 57459; Uvira ( Laurent, 1956, 1960) FMNH 168829; MCZ 53261. BURUNDI. Bujumbura & Rumonge ( Laurent, 1956, 1960).

Figures

PLATE 11. Leptotyphlops. Distribution of the Leptotyphlops scutifrons species group in East Africa. Type localities are labelled.

PLATE 12. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops nigroterminus sp. nov. Dorsal and lateral views of the head of the holotype, MCZ 54813 — Karema, Tanzania. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops latirostris. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of MCZ 53261/57459 from Uvira, DDC. Drawings by J. Boundy. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 3. Leptotyphlops scutifrons merkeri. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the syntype, MCZ 31627 — Moshi, Tanzania. Drawings by J. Boundy. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Dorsal views of the heads of: A. Leptotyphlops latirostris. MRAC 18014 (Uvira, Kivu), compared with B. Leptotyphlops scutifrons pitmani. MRAC 18006 (Rwankuba, Rwanda), after Laurent (1956). The lines represent 1 mm to scale.