Leptotyphlops yemenicus Scortecci, 1933

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 22-24

Leptotyphlops yemenicus Scortecci ( Plate 7 , Fig. 4)

Yemen worm snake

Leptotyphlops yemenicus Scortecci, 1933 , Atti. Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Milano 72: 165. Type locality Yemen, holotype MSNM 3354, collected 1933, donated by G. Franchini; Wallach & Lanza 2004: 86.

Leptotyphlops nursii — Schmidt & Hoogstraal, 1951: 7; Schmidt, 1953: 259; Corkill & Cochrane, 1966: 496; Hahn, 1980: 23; Gasperetti, 1988: 202; McDiarmid et al, 1999: 39.

Leptotyphlops blanfordi nursi — Hahn, 1978: 487.

Leptotyphlops blanfordii nursii — Schätti & Gasperetti, 1994: 382; Schätti & Desvoignes, 1999: 78.

Leptotyphlops nursi — Abadi, 1998: 101.

Diagnosis. With 12 midtail rows, Leptotyphlops yemenicus appears allied to L. burii and L. nursii , but it differs in its low middorsal count and high subcaudal count, short tail with large thorn-like apical spine, narrow depressed head, short and narrow rostral, supranasal and ocular shapes, and semilunate cloacal shield. In addition, it differs from L. nursii in its smaller frontal size and lack of a slight beak. Skull with a large frontoparietal foramen like L. cairi .

Description. Body cylindrical, with head narrower than neck, the long tail tapers slightly before a large thorn-like terminal spine.

Snout rounded in dorsal view; lateral head profile depressed with rounded snout projecting with distinct preoral cavity but beak lacking in lateral view. Rostral sagittate, narrow (0.36 head width), not reaching eye level; supranasals larger and broader than rostral dorsally, extending well beyond posterior apex of rostral, nearly as broad as ocular in lateral view with strongly oblique and angled posterior border; interocular line centred between frontal and postfrontal shields. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril nearer to supralabial than rostral along nasal suture), which is twice the height of anterior supralabial and equal in width to it along lip, short anterior supralabial, ocular that is broader than supranasal with a wide lower portion, upper third narrowed, barely wider than the large eye (with distinct pupil) beneath it, and moderate sub-triangular posterior supralabial. Supraoculars rounded, about as long as wide, anteriorly wedged between supranasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between the slightly broader frontal and postfrontal, frontal narrower than postfrontal, which is narrower than interparietal. Parietals transverse, occipitals enlarged and fused, in contact with posterior supralabial. Temporal single. Cloacal shield semilunate.

Scale rows 14-14-14, midtail rows 12; middorsals 287, subcaudals 42. Length/width ratio 70, relative tail length 11.5%, tail length/width ratio 9.55.

Dorsum and venter uniformly light brown.

Size. Total length of holotype 80.5 + 10.5 = 91 mm, midbody diameter 1.3 mm, midtail diameter 1.1 mm.

Distribution. Known only from the holotype MSNM 3354 from Yemen, without precise locality.

Figures

PLATE 7. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops nursii. Dorsal, ventral and lateral views of the head of FMNH 66157 — Tapizz, Yemen. Drawings by J. Boundy. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops erythraeus. Dorsal, ventral and lateral views of the head of the type, MSNM 3349 — Massaua, Eritrea, redrawn with modifications from Scortecci (1928). Figure 3. Leptotyphlops burii. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of BMNH 1937.11.1.10 — Ad Dali, Yemen, after Gasperetti (1988). Drawings by E. Wade. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Leptotyphlops yemenicus. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the type, MSNM 3354 - Yemen. Redrawn with modifications from Scortecci (1933).