Leptotyphlops tanae, Published, 2007

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 28-29

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6789060

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6789119

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A77887C2-FFC6-FFE6-FF02-846244CAB4E7

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Leptotyphlops tanae
status

sp. nov.

Leptotyphlops tanae sp. nov. ( Plate 8 View PLATE 8 , Fig. 4)

Tana worm-snake

Leptotyphlops longicauda — Loveridge, 1936: 231, 1957: 247 (part); List, 1966: 107.

Leptotyphlops longicaudus — Spawls, 1978: 3 (part); Lanza, 1983: 220, 1990: 431; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 34 (part); Spawls et al., 2002: 304 (part).

Leptotyphlops cairi — Hoevers & Johnson, 1982: 182 (part); Lambert, 1985: 66 (part).

Leptotyphlops longicaudatus (sic) — Lambert, 1985: 66 (part).

Holotype. MCZ 40099, a male from old village of Ngatana , ca. one mile northwest from new village of Wema, in the lower Tana River, Coast Region, Kenya (02°30’S, 40°15’E, elevation 50 m), collected by A. Loveridge, 14–21 June 1934. GoogleMaps

Paratypes. MCZ 40093–98 View Materials , 40100–08 View Materials , 40110–11 View Materials ; NMW 15464 (2); USNM 12081–82 with the same data as the holotype GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Leptotyphlops tanae differs from all East African members of the L. cairi complex in its low counts for middorsals (227–260) and subcaudals (25–30) and its very small size. Skull with a large frontoparietal foramen like L. cairi .

Etymology. Named for the lower Tana River, where the type locality is situated.

Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Body cylindrical, with head broadened and flattened, head tubercles prominent, the moderate tail tapers to a stout downturned terminal spine.

Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.36–0.50 head width, mean = 0.40), narrower than nasals and not extending back to the level of the eyes, a weak preoral groove inferiorly. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial with width along lip equal to that of infranasal, large ocular with eye near upper anterior edge, and moderate posterior supralabial. Supraoculars slightly longer than wide, anteriorly wedged between upper nasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between the subequal frontal and postfrontal, which are smaller than the interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals transverse, in contact with the posterior supralabials, occipitals not fused in Kenya specimens (fused in MCZ 40100 and on one side of MCZ 40097) but fused in Somali and Ethiopian specimens. Temporal single. Prominent tubercles on rostral and nasals. No mental, four infralabials .

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate subequal scales, reducing to 10 rows on the tail. Middorsals 249 (227–260, mean 242.86, n = 21); subcaudals 30 (25–30, mean 27.71, n = 21);

Total length/diameter ratio 47 (46–87); total length/tail length ratio 9.8 (10.2–12.4).

Length of holotype 88.5 + 10 = 98.5 mm.

Three to nine (usually seven) middorsal scale rows pigmented light brown to tan (in preservative, flesh pink in life fide Loveridge, 1936), venter cream to pale yellow.

Skull (MCZ 40105) similar to that of Leptotyphlops cairi .

Everted hemipenis (MCZ 40108, SVL 76 mm, tail 7 mm, 27 subcaudals) three subcaudals (1.2 mm) long and 1/4 subcaudal (0.1 mm) wide, nude, uniformly narrow with a pair of lateral longitudinal flaps along basal 2/5 of organ, each flap approximately half as wide as the organ, apical tip with swollen lip,

Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 40105) 93 + 9.5 = 102.5 mm; smallest specimen (MZUF 35209) 43.5 + 4.5 = 48 mm.

Habitat. Termite mound at edge of rice swamp and within six inches of the surface of black cotton soil forming banks in flooded rice fields ( Loveridge, 1936).

Distribution. Southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and northeastern Kenya, 0–400 m ( Plate 5 View PLATE 5 ).

Additional material. ETHIOPIA. Murle MSNM 2979 . SOMALIA. Afgoi , 02°08’N, 45°08’E, 100 m, MZUF 35209 View Materials GoogleMaps ; 6 km E of Afgoi MZUF 24205 View Materials ; Ceel Cillan MZUF 31458 View Materials ; " Southern Somalia " NHCL 1541 .

MCZ

Museum of Comparative Zoology

NMW

Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Leptotyphlopidae

Genus

Leptotyphlops

Loc

Leptotyphlops tanae

Published, First 2007
2007
Loc

Leptotyphlops longicaudatus

Lambert, M. R. K. 1985: 66
1985
Loc

Leptotyphlops cairi

Lambert, M. R. K. 1985: 66
Hoevers, L. G. & Johnson, P. M. 1982: 182
1982
Loc

Leptotyphlops longicaudus

Spawls, S. & Howell, K. & Drewes, R. & Ashe, J. 2002: 304
McDiarmid, R. W. & Campbell, J. A. & Toure, T. A. 1999: 34
Lanza, B. 1990: 431
Lanza, B. 1983: 220
Spawls, S. 1978: 3
1978
Loc

Leptotyphlops longicauda

Loveridge, A. 1936: 231
1936
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