Letheobia decorosa (Buchholz & 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 : 44

Letheobia decorosa (Buchholz & Peters)

( Fig 3 B)

Cameroon gracile blind-snake

Typhlops (Ophthalmidion) decorosus Buchholz & Peters 1875 , Mber. Königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1875: 197. Type locality: Cameruns [= Cameroon], holotype ZMB 8322, collected by R. Buchholz.

Typhlops (Onychocephalus) buchholzi Peters 1881 , S-Ber. Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 1881(4): 71. Type locality: Mungo (West-Africa) [= Cameroon] (04°06’N, 09°32’E, elevation 45 m), holotype ZBM 8408.

Typhlops decorosus – Boulenger, 1893: 38; Sternfeld 1908a: 403; Boulenger 1920: 271; Werner 1921: 312; Roux-Estève 1974: 73, Fig. 44, 1975: 444; Hahn 1980: 55; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 98.

Letheobia decorosa – Chirio & Ineich, 2006: 42.

Description. Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral broad, rounded posteriorly; frontal subhexagonal; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between preocular and ocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from first labial; SIP X (N2, P, O, O); MSR 24; MD 460–542; vertebrae 285–320; middorsal/vertebrae ratio 1.52–1.69; LD ratio 53–66. Dark pigmentation covers all except 3–5 midventral scale rows.

Size. Largest specimen (MNHN 1966.1248 – Ngaoundéré, Cameroon) 505 mm in total length.

Habitat. Forest-savanna mosaic.

Distribution. Central Cameroon and western Central African Republic, 45–500 m ( Fig. 11 ).

Localities. CAMEROON. No locality ZMB 8322; Bafutu District BMNH 50.1.1.31; Bota BMNH 1967.106; Mungo ZMN 8408; Ngaoundéré MNHN 1966.1248-51. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Bania MNHN 1931.80.

Figures

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