Letheobia obtusa (Peters)

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 : 39-43

Letheobia obtusa (Peters)

( Fig 3 A)

Southern gracile blind-snake

Typhlops (Onychocephalus) obtusus Peters 1865 , Mber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1865: 260, Pl. Fig. 2 . Type locality: Thale des Shireflusses, Mozambique [= Shire River, Malawi], syntypes BMNH 1946.1.11.31–32 (ex-BMNH 1864.10.29.15-16).

Typhlops obtusus – Peters 1882: 95; Boulenger 1893: 38, 1915b: 615; Werner 1921: 313; Laurent 1964: 420; Roux- Estève 1974: 69, Fig. 42, 1975: 444; Hahn 1980: 65; Broadley 1983: 39 & 1990: 377; Branch 1988: 46, Pl. 39; Marais 1992: 177; Branch 1994: 46, Pl. 39; Branch 1998: 54, Pls. 39 & 97; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 112.

Typhlops decorosus – (not Buchholz & Peters) Sternfeld 1908b: 242 (Milanji).

Typhlops tettensis obtusus – Loveridge 1951: 186, 1953: 243.

Typhlops obtusus obtusus , – Laurent 1968: 1.

Typhlops obtusus palgravei Laurent, 1968 , Arnoldia Rhod., 3: 2. Type locality: Umtali, Rhodesia [= Mutare, Zimbabwe] (19°00’S, 32°40’E, elevation 1415 m), collected by M. C. Palgrave, 11 April 1967, holotype NMZB-UM 12764.

,

= trachea+right bronchus, B/RLg = right bronchus/right lung, H-RLg = heart midpoint-right lung midpoint, H-L = heart midpoint-liver midpoint, T-L = trachea midpoint-

midpoint, L-K = liver midpoint-kidney midpoint, RLg-A = right lung midpoint-adrenal midpoint, H-RG = heart midpoint-right gonad midpoint, TB-GB = trachea+bronchus midpoint-gall bladder midpoint, H-K = heart midpoint-kidney midpoint, T-A = trachea midpoint-adrenal midpoint, TB-K = trachea+bronchus midpoint-kidney midpoint.

Description. Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal subhexagonal; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between preocular and ocular; eye spot, if visible (mainly in subadult specimens) below preocular; nasal suture arising from first labial; SIP II–P (N2, N2/P, O, O); MSR 22–26, reduction A/B 2 to 6, B/C 0 to 2; MD 406–507; vertebrae 251–271; MD/V ratio 1.63–1.80; L/D ratio 46–95. Dark brown to black above, each scale lighter basally, pale brown to white below. Subadults are lighter in colour.

Size. Largest specimen (NMZB-UM 23667 – Mutare, Zimbabwe) 372 mm in total length.

Habitat. Coastal forest and miombo woodland. NMZB-UM 8029 was taken under a rock at the foot of a granite inselberg. Most of the Mutare specimens were found in urban compost heaps, but the specimen from Pungwe Bridge was in gallery forest.

Distribution. Southern Malawi, northern Mozambique and northeastern Zimbabwe, 600–1415 m ( Fig. 10 ).

Localities. MALAWI. Blantyre BMNH 1947.1.1.24; Chisambo, Mulanje NMZB-UM 20613-14; Limbe ZMC/R. 52190; Mulanje ( Sternfeld, 1908b); Ruo River, Mulanje MCZ 51027-29; Shire Highlands BMNH 92.12.31.24; Thyolo Mtn. MCZ 51025-26; Zomba BMNH 93.10.26.37. MOZAMBIQUE. Mitucuè Mtn NMZB-UM 8029; Moebase PEM 13318; south of Nagonha River PEM 13232; Shire Valley BMNH 1946.1.11.31-32 (syntypes). ZIMBABWE. Mutare AMNH 114430; FMNH 203728; NMZB-UM 7373, 12760-64, 16422, 17204, 17811, 18868, 23251, 23667, 26981, 28922, 29407, 32924, 32941, 33681; Pungwe Bridge NMZB-UM 27556.

Figures

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

FIGURE 3. The Letheobia obtusa complex: dorsal, lateral and ventral views of head of: A. L. obtusa (BMNH 1947.1. 1.24 – Blantyre, Malawi, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 42); B. L. decorosa (MNHN 1966 - 1251 – Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 44); C. L. jubana sp. nov. (CAS 151201, holotype – Mareri, Juba River, Somalia, J. Boundy illustration). The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

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