Leptotyphlops scutifrons pitmani, Published, 2007

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 45

publication ID

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

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6789158

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A77887C2-FFF1-FFD6-FF02-80DA43EFB0C1

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Leptotyphlops scutifrons pitmani
status

subsp. nov.

Leptotyphlops scutifrons pitmani subsp. nov. ( Plate 12 View PLATE 12 , Fig. 4)

Pitman's worm snake

Glauconia emini View in CoL — Sternfeld, 1912: 264.

Leptotyphlops conjuncta — Loveridge, 1933: 224; Pitman, 1935: 51; Uthmöller, 1941: 228 (Mto-wa-mbu).

Leptotyphlops conjuncta conjuncta — Loveridge, 1957: 246 (part); Pitman, 1974: 66.

Leptotyphlops conjunctus conjunctus — Laurent, 1956: 82, fig. 13; Spawls, 1978: 2 (part).

Leptotyphlops emini emini — Spawls, 1978: 3 (part).

Leptotyphlops conjunctus — McDiarmid et al., 1999: 25 (part).

Leptotyphlops scutifrons — Spawls et al., 2002: 299 (part).

Holotype. BMNH 1935.10.11.4 Bisu [= Biso], W Budongo Forest, Bunyoro, Uganda (01°44’N, 31°26’E, 1600 m). Collected by C.R.S. Pitman, July 1935. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: UGANDA. Ankole District LIVM 1962.168.25 ; Buteba Camp, Budama BMNH 1934.3.2.1 ; Chamgurani LIVM 1962.50.35 ; Gulu to Lira FMNH 34485 ; Entebbe BMNH 1929.8.5.17 , 1954.1.12.17–18 ; 1963.948 ; 1965.670 ; PEM 1898 View Materials ; Jinja BMNH 1954.1.11.83–86 , 1983.1264 ; Kasaali LIVM 1962.106.59–60 ; Kigondo LIVM 1960.115.1 ; Kiyanga LIVM 1962.330.33 ; Mabona LIVM 1962.106.58 ; Mbarara LIVM 1962.50.36 ; 1962.168.27 ; Rushozi LIVM 1962.168.26 . KENYA. Chemilil CAS 141519 ; Kabarnet BMNH 1958.1.2.42 ; Kericho NMK / O 2850 View Materials ; Kisumu BMNH 1966.46 , 1978.1986 87 ; Sirgoit LACM 63382–83 View Materials ; Songhor BMNH 1960.1.5.57 , 1961.428 (2) . RWANDA. 30 km S of Kakitumba, 1475 m CAS 85761 . TANZANIA. Bukoba DM 68 ; Ukerewe Island ZMB 24945 .

Diagnosis. A subspecies of Leptotyphlops scutifrons distinguished from the typical form by its narrower wedge-shaped rostral (unguiform in typical L. scutifrons ) and from the intervening subspecies L. scutifrons merkeri by having 10 scale rows on the tail.

Etymology. Named for Charles Robert Senhouse Pitman (1890–1975), author of ‘A Guide to the Snakes of Uganda’, whose efforts contributed greatly to the accumulation of Ugandan material in the museums in London, Liverpool, Bulawayo and Kampala.

Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, the short tail tapers slightly to a blunt terminal cone or very small spine.

Snout rounded, frontal fused with the wedge-shaped rostral, rostral moderate (0.40–0.47 head width, mean = 0.44), broader than the supranasals anteriorly and extending well beyond the eyes, but constricted posteriorly and only a quarter the width of the head at the level of the eyes, a weak preoral groove present inferiorly. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), a small anterior supralabial that reaches the level of the nostril, large ocular with the eye at the upper anterior edge, and tall posterior supralabial (posterior supralabial fused to parietal on right side of LIVM 1962.50.35). Supraoculars pentagonal, anteriorly wedged between rostral and hexagonal postfrontal, which is smaller than a supraocular and subequal to the hexagonal interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals oblique, subequal to the fused occipitals, in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, four infralabials.

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales, reducing to 10 rows on the tail lateral to the subtriangulat cloacal shield. Middorsals 227 (217–272); subcaudals 19 (18–30). Length of holotype 140 + 10 = 150 mm.

Total length/diameter ratio 50 (40–86); total length/tail length ratio 15.0 (9,7–15.4).

Dorsum blackish-brown, venter dark brown; lower edge of upper lip, rostral and chin, cloacal shield and tail tip yellow (rarely only chin tip light).

Size. Largest specimen (BMNH 1963.948 — Entebbe) 172 + 13 = 185 mm.

Habitat. Savanna.

Distribution. Northern Rwanda, Uganda, western Kenya and northwestern Tanzania (centred on the Victoria Nyanza basin), 1250–1830 m ( Plate 11 View PLATE 11 ).

NMK

National Museums of Kenya

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Leptotyphlopidae

Genus

Leptotyphlops

Loc

Leptotyphlops scutifrons pitmani

Published, First 2007
2007
Loc

Leptotyphlops scutifrons

Spawls, S. & Howell, K. & Drewes, R. & Ashe, J. 2002: 299
2002
Loc

Leptotyphlops conjunctus

McDiarmid, R. W. & Campbell, J. A. & Toure, T. A. 1999: 25
1999
Loc

Leptotyphlops emini emini

Spawls, S. 1978: 3
1978
Loc

Leptotyphlops conjunctus conjunctus

Spawls, S. 1978: 2
Laurent, R. F. 1956: 82
1956
Loc

Leptotyphlops conjuncta

Uthmoller, W. 1941: 228
Pitman, C. R. S. 1935: 51
Loveridge, A. 1933: 224
1933
Loc

Glauconia emini

Sternfeld, R. 1912: 264
1912
Loc

Leptotyphlops conjuncta conjuncta

Pitman, C. R. S. 1974: 66
Loveridge, 1957: 246
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