Leptotyphlops burii (Boulenger)

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 22

Leptotyphlops burii (Boulenger) ( Plate 7 , Fig. 3)

Bury's Worm Snake

Glauconia burii Boulenger, 1905 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 16: 178. Type locality: El Kubar [= Khawbar], Upper Hushabi, Yemen (13°48’N, 44°45’E, elevation 1350 m), holotype BMNH 1946.1 .16.56 (formerly BMNH 1903.3.6.48), collected by G.W. Bury.

Leptotyphlops burii — Corkill & Cochrane, 1966: 496; Hahn, 1980: 9; Leviton & Aldrich, 1984: xxiv; Arnold, 1987: 252; Gasperetti, 1988: 203, fig. 17; Schätti & Gasperetti, 1994: 383; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 24; Schätti & Desvoignes, 1999: 77.

Leptotyphlops buri — Hahn, 1978: 485, fig. 6.

Leptotyphlops blanfordi nursi — Hahn, 1978: 486 (part), fig. 8.

Leptotyphlops nursii — Gasperetti, 1988: 201 (part).

Diagnosis. Closely related to Leptotyphlops nursii , but distinguished by its larger rostral (0.62–0.68 head width, mean = 0.66) and frontal (twice the size of supraoculars) shields, occipitals never enlarged, and higher middorsal count (403–408 vs 281–378).

Description. See Gasperetti (1988). Twelve scale rows on the tail; middorsals 403–408; subcaudals 28– 33; total length/diameter ratio 61–69; total length/tail length ratio 13.8–14.4. Middorsal seven scale rows pigmented light brown or tan, ventral seven rows paler, unpigmented.

Size. Largest (holotype) 205 mm in total length.

Distribution. Highlands of southwestern Yemen, 1350–1460 m ( Plate 5 ).

Localities. YEMEN. ad-Dali (Dhala) BMNH 1937.11.1.9–10 (where sympatric with Leptotyphlops nursii ); Khawbar (holotype) .

Figures

PLATE 5. Leptotyphlops. Distribution of the Leptotyphlops parkeri, L. reticulatus, L. longicaudus and L. nigricans species groups in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia.

PLATE 7. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops nursii. Dorsal, ventral and lateral views of the head of FMNH 66157 — Tapizz, Yemen. Drawings by J. Boundy. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops erythraeus. Dorsal, ventral and lateral views of the head of the type, MSNM 3349 — Massaua, Eritrea, redrawn with modifications from Scortecci (1928). Figure 3. Leptotyphlops burii. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of BMNH 1937.11.1.10 — Ad Dali, Yemen, after Gasperetti (1988). Drawings by E. Wade. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Leptotyphlops yemenicus. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the type, MSNM 3354 - Yemen. Redrawn with modifications from Scortecci (1933).