Letheobia toritensis, Wallach, Van, 2007

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 : 47-48

Letheobia toritensis sp. nov.

( Fig 4 C)

Torit gracile blind-snake

Typhlops pallidus – (not Cope) Loveridge 1956: 6.

Rhinotyphlops pallidus – (not Cope) Roux-Estève 1974: 217 (part).

Holotype. MCZ 53324, a female from Torit, Equatoria Province, Sudan (04°27'N, 32°31'E, elevation 625 m), collected by J. S. Owen, 19 June 1950.

Paratypes. MCZ 53325-29, 16045-48; FMNH; MCZ 53332 Lokwi, 40 km south of Torit, collected 23 November 1950.

Diagnosis. A member of the Letheobia pallida complex, but differing in its greater length (maximum length 270 mm vs 192 mm in L. pallida ) and more slender build (length/diameter ratio 62–82 vs 49–62 in L. pallida and L. swahilica ); blunt snout, with a broader, subrectangular rostral; frontal transversely enlarged; more numerous middorsals (427–487 vs 376–433) and vertebrae (280–303 vs 235–274). There are also differences in visceral arrangement ( Table 4 ).

Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal subhexagonal; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular, the latter separated from the labials by a large subocular; eye not visible; nasal sulcus arising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, O O); scale rows 26-22-22 (or 24-22-22, 26-22-20, rarely 26-24-22; MD 473 (427–487); vertebrae 297 (280–303); MD/V ratio 1.59 (1.49–1.64); L/D ratio 62–90. Colourless.

Etymology. Named for Torit, the type locality.

Size. Largest specimen ( Loveridge 1956) 267.5 mm in total length.

Habitat. Gallery forest. Found 30 cm below the surface and ”dug from rich humus among the buttress roots of a dozen great trees along the [Kineti] river” (Loveridge 1955).

Distribution. Southern Sudan (Equatoria Province), 625–1200 m ( Figs. 10 , 11 & 13 ).

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.

FIGURE 11. Distribution of the north-central African species of Letheobia and L. jubana in north-east Africa (inset, top left).

FIGURE 13. Distribution of the Letheobia somalica complex in Ethiopia and Eritrea.