Letheobia pembana, 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 : 45

Letheobia pembana sp. nov.

Pemba gracile blind-snake

Typhlops pallidus – (not Cope) Boettger 1913: 351; Boulenger 1915b: 616 (part); Moreau & Pakenham 1941: 108 (part); Loveridge 1957: 244 (part).

Rhinotyphlops pallidus – (not Cope) Pakenham 1983: 21 (part); Spawls et al. 2002: 295 (part), 2006: 92 (part).

Holotype. SMF 16688, a male from Pemba Island, Tanzania (05°15’S, 39°50’E, elevation <100 m), collected by A. Voeltzkow in 1905.

Diagnosis. A member of the Letheobia pallida complex, but distinguished by its more numerous scale rows (26-24-24 vs 24-22-22) and lower number of middorsals (353 vs 376-487).

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 26-24-24; MD 353; L/D ratio 53. Length 158 mm. Colourless.

Etymology. Named for Pemba Island, the type locality.

Habitat. Coastal mosaic, probably cultivation steppe.

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

Figures

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