Letheobia pallida Cope

Wallach, Van, 2007, A review of East and Central African species of Letheobia Cope, revived from the synonymy of Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, with descriptions of five new species (Serpentes: Typhlopidae), Zootaxa 1515, pp. 31-68 : 45

Letheobia pallida Cope

( Fig 4 A)

Pallid gracile blind-snake

Letheobia pallida Cope 1869 , Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 322. Type locality: Zanzibar [ Island, Tanzania], collected by C. Cooke, lectotype MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. 504), designated herein; Barbour & Loveridge 1929: 295; Malnate 1971: 370.

Typhlops pallidus – Boulenger 1893: 54, 1915b: 616 (part); Tornier 1896: 66; Sternfeld 1908: 242, 1910: 12; Loveridge 1916: 82, 1924: 4 (part), 1936: 227; Werner 1921: 330; Moreau & Pakenham 1941: 108 (part); Loveridge 1957: 244 (part); Pitman 1974: 64 (part); Broadley & Howell 1991: 21 (part).

Rhinotyphlops pallidus – Roux-Estève 1974: 217, Fig. 151, 1975: 445 (part); Hahn 1980: 32; Meirte 1992: 20, Fig. 35; Broadley & Broadley 1996: 45 (part); McDiarmid et al. 1999: 83 (part); Spawls et al. 2002: 295 (part); Spawls et al. 2006: 92 (part).

Description. Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal crescentic; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular, the latter separated from the lip by a large subocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, O, O); scale rows 24-22-22; MD 418– 433; vertebrae 274; MD/V ratio 1.54–1.58; L/D ratio 53–62. Colourless.

Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 5723 – Zanzibar Island) 192 mm in total length.

Habitat. Coastal mosaic. One of the types was taken from a well ( Cope 1869).

Distribution. Endemic to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania ( Fig 10 ).

Localities. Zanzibar Island ( Pakenham, 1983) ANSP 3300 (paralectotype); BMNH 68.2.29.135, 1950.1.5.34; MCZ 5723 (lectotype).

Comment. C. Cooke collected the two syntypes from Zanzibar, East Africa: ANSP 3300 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 411) & MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 504). Barbour & Loveridge (1929: 295) cited MCZ 5723 as the “ holotype and genotype”whereas Malnate (1971: 370) cited ANSP 3300 as a “ syntype,” noting that Cope’s Essex Institute specimen (no. 504) was the presumed MCZ “ holotype ” listed by Barbour & Loveridge. In support of this the MCZ Reptile Catalogue reads “from a well” in the remarks column; the specimen was received from the Peabody Museum, which incorporated the Essex Institute, in 1886. However, in Cope’s description (1869: 322) he states that the ANSP specimen he described was “presented by C. Cooke to the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. (Mus. 504)” and that “it was taken from a well.” His measurement of the specimen was 160 mm; the MCZ specimen measures 196 mm in length. We have examined both specimens: ANSP 3300 bears an old tag reading 411 and measures 158 mm in length. We hereby designate the larger and better preserved specimen at the MCZ (5723) as the lectotype.

Figures

FIGURE 4. The Letheobia pallida complex: A. L. pallida (BMNH 68.2. 9.135 – Zanzibar, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 151); B. L. swahilica sp. nov. (MCZ 40076, holotype – Ngatana, Tana River, Kenya, J. Boundy illustration); C. L. toritensis sp. nov. (NMZB 16722, paratype – Torit, Sudan, J. Boundy illustration). The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

FIGURE 10. Distribution of the East African species of Letheobia.