Typhlops unitaeniatus
Lepri 1911 : 318
Scortecci 1930 : 15
Typhlops scorteccii Gans & Laurent 1965
Rhinotyphlops
scortecciI
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)
Wallach, Van
Zootaxa
2007
1515
31
68
Gans & Laurent
Gans & Laurent
[151,626,1585,1611]
Reptilia
Typhlopidae
Letheobia
Animalia
Squamata
26
57
Chordata
species
scorteccii
Scortecci’s blind-snake
Typhlops unitaeniatus– (not Peters) Lepri 1911: 318; Scortecci 1930: 15(part, Mogadiscio). Typhlops scorteccii Gans & Laurent 1965, Ann. Mus. Roy. Afr. Cen., Tervuren, (134): 56, Fig. 12& Pl. 6. Typelocality: 10 kmsouth of Afgoi, on the sand dune road to Merca [Marka], Benadir Province, Somali Republic( 02°05’N, 45°10’E, elevation 30 m), collected by C. Gans, 25 July 1961, holotypeMCZ 74455; Gans & Taub, 1965: 107. Rhinotyphlops scortecciI– Roux-Estève 1974: 246, Fig. 184, 1975: 445; Hahn 1980: 35; Lanza 1983: 219, 1990: 430; Lambert 1985: 66; McDiarmid et al.1999: 87.
Description.Snout very prominent, with an obtusely angular keratinised edge on rostral; rostral very large, subrectangular, extending far beyond the eye spots, rostral ventrally almost as wide as the head at the level of the nostrils; frontal crescentic, supraocular oblique, its lateral apex between nasal and preocular; eye barely visible beneath the nasal, nasal suture arising from L2; SIPX (N1, P, P, P). Scale rows usually 26-24-24l; MD 311–405. L/D ratio 27–73. Dark to blackish brown dorsally, slightly lighter ventrally, with a bright yellow stripe running from top of head along the anterior half to three-quarters of the back. Size.Largest specimen (BMNH 1963.420 – Benadir region, Somalia) 275 mmin total length. Habitat. Somali Acacia-Commiphorabushland and thicket. Most of the typeseries were taken at a depth of 30 to 60 cmin sand beneath the debris from a long defunct thorn bush. The Mogadiscio specimens were taken by hoeing up grasses in sandy soil during the early morning ( Gans & Laurent 1965).
Distribution.Restricted to a small area round Mogadiscio and Lower Shabeelle in southern Somalia, 0– 100 m( Fig. 12). Localities. SOMALIA. Unknown locality NHCL 1536-37, 1550; Afgoi MZUF 24202; 10 kmS of Afgoi MCZ 74455 ( holotype), 74456-59 ( paratypes); Benadir region ( Lepri 1911) BMNH 1963.420; CM 38719 ( paratypes); Merka MZUF 29695; Mogadiscio ( Scortecci 1930) MCZ 74460-62 ( paratypes); MZUF 2661; MZUT 1753 (2); NHCL 1538-40; Lower Shabeelle MZUF 21977.