Letheobia graueri (Sternfeld)

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 : 52

Letheobia graueri (Sternfeld)

( Fig 6 C)

Grauer’s gracile blind-snake

Typhlops graueri Sternfeld 1912 , Wiss. Ergebn. Deutsch. Zentr.-Afr.-Exped. 1907–1908, 4: 264. Type locality: Urwald hinter den Randbergen am Nordwestufer des [Lake] Tanganyika [= Democratic Republic of Congo], collected by R. Grauer, 1907–1908, holotype ZMB 27161; Boulenger 1915a: 197; Werner 1921: 289; Loveridge 1933: 212, 1942: 258; Laurent 1956a: 78 (part); Witte 1962: 43 (part), 1966: 52, Fig. 7 ; Broadley & Howell 1991: 21.

Typhlops leptosoma – (not Witte, 1933) Witte 1953: 148 (part, Lubundaye River).

Typhlops kibarae – (part) Witte 1953: 150 (Kabalo).

Typhlops leptosoma polli Laurent 1956 a, Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge, sér. in 8vo, Zool. 48: 79. Type locality: Niemba, Terr. Albertville, Tanganyika [= Democratic Republic of Congo] (05°58’S, 28°24’E, elevation ca. 2000 m), collected by Gérard, 3 June 1918, holotype MRAC 1985.

Typhlops gracilis pollI – Laurent 1960: 18.

Typhlops graveri (sic) – Robb 1966: 677, Fig. 6 .

Rhinotyphlops graueri , – Roux-Estève 1974: 227, Fig. 163, 1975: 445; Hahn 1980: 31; Meirte 1992: 21; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 80; Slapeta, Necas & Modry 2000: 105, Figs. 1–2 ; Spawls et al. 2002: 296; Spawls et al. 2006: 92.

Description. Snout with an angular horizontal edge. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal crescentic, contacting or separated from the nasals; supraocular transverse, the lateral apex wedged between nasal and ocular, which is separated from the subocular by a small temporal; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from first or second labial; SIP X (N1, P, S, S); scale rows 24-24-24; MD 454–622; vertebrae 316–382; MD/V ratio 1.47–1.63; L/D ratio 60–89.

Size. Largest examined (NMK 1973 – Gombe National Park, Tanzania) 400 mm in total length, but Witte (1966) gives the maximum length as 450 mm.

Habitat. Forest and savanna (miombo woodland). Two specimens (MCZ 30034-35) were taken in rice paddies at Ruanda, just east of Ujiji ( Loveridge 1933) and in Ujiji specimens were taken beneath rotting debris at base of mango tree and under piles of garden refuse ( Loveridge 1942).

Distribution. Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, western Tanzania, Burundi and western Uganda, 750–2000 m ( Fig. 10 ).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Kabalo MRAC 15353; Lubunbaye IRSNB 2057; Niemba MRAC 1985 (holotype of T. leptosoma polli ); Nyunzu MRAC 18002-03. TANZANIA. Gombe National Park NMK 1973, 2243, 2245; NMZB 16711; Kasakala NMZB 9623; ( Loveridge, 1933) Ujiji MCZ 48051-56; Uvinza MCZ 54812. BURUNDI. Rumonge MRAC 21495-96. UGANDA. Semuliki National Park, Toro Province ( Slapeta, Necas & Modry, 2000) ZFMK 63138.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Histograms showing number of specimens in each 1 cm size class for Letheobia species. The vertical units shown for L. wittei indicate single specimens.

FIGURE 2. Hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships of Typhlopoidea species groups (after Wallach, 1998 b: Fig. 4).

FIGURE 6. The Letheobia gracilis complex: dorsal, lateral and ventral views of head of: A. L. debilis (ZFMK 33684, holotype – Bangui, Central African Republic, after Joger, 1990: Fig. 3); B. L. kibarae (IRSNB 2201, holotype – Kaswabilenga, Democratic Republic of Congo, after Witte, 1953: Fig. 35); C. L. graueri (MCZ 30034 – Rwanda, near Ujiji, Tanzania, J. Boundy illustration). The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of: A. L. gracilis (ZMB 44030, holotype – Kitungulu, Zimbabwe, after Witte, 1966: Fig. 5); B. L. sudanensis (MRAC 3232, paratype – Faradje, Democratic Republic of Congo, after Roux- Estève, 1974: Fig. 171); C. L. lumbriciformis (ZMB 8045 A, syntype – Zanzibar coast, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 155. The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

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