Letheobia gracilis (Sternfeld)

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 : 52-53

Letheobia gracilis (Sternfeld)

( Fig 7 A)

Gracile blind-snake

Typhlops lumbriciformis – (not Peters) Boulenger 1896: 590 (Fwambo).

Typhlops gracilis Sternfeld 1910 , Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 5: 70. Type locality: Kitungulu in Urungu, Deutsch-Ostafrika [= Sumbawanga District, Tanzania], (ca. 04°32’S, 34°13’E, elevation 1370 m), collected by H. Fromm in 1910, holotype ZMB 22030; Sternfeld 1910b: 10; Boulenger 1915b: 614; Werner 1921: 289; Barbour & Loveridge 1928: 104; Vesey-FitzGerald 1958: 34, Photo 3; Broadley & Pitman 1960: 438; Witte 1962: 43, 1966: 47, Fig. 5 ; Broadley 1971: 69; Broadley & Howell 1991: 21.

Typhlops leptosoma Witte 1933 , Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 23: 189 & Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge, Zool. (1) 3: 82, Figs. 1–3 . Type locality: Lukafu, Haut-Katanga, Congo Belge [= Democratic Republic of Congo] (10°28’S, 27°32’E, elevation 1115 m), holotype MRAC 7251; Witte 1953: 148, Figs. 33–34.

Typhlops katangensis Witte 1933 , Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 23: 190, Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge, Zool. (1) 3: 84, Figs. 1–3 . Type locality: Lukonzolwa, Haut-Katanga, Congo Belge [= Democratic Republic of Congo] (08°45’S, 28°40’E, elevation 1200 m), holotype MRAC 7375.

Typhlops kibarae – (part) Witte 1953: 150 (Kaswabilenga).

Typhlops gracilis leptosoma – Laurent 1960: 20.

Rhinotyphlops gracilis – Roux-Estève 1974: 224, Fig. 159, 1975: 445; Hahn 1980: 30; Meirte 1992: 21; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 80; Spawls et al. 2002: 296; Spawls et al. 2006: 92.

Letheobia gracilis – Broadley et al. 2003: 43.

Description. Snout with an angular horizontal edge. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal trapezoid, usually separated from nasals by supraoculars, which are oblique, with lateral apex wedged between nasal and ocular, which is separated from the subocular by one temporal (two in types of Typhlops leptosoma Witte ); eye not visible; nasal suture rising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, S, S); scale rows 22-22-22; MD 629–726; vertebrae 377–465; MD/V ratio 1.54–1.77; L/D ratio 70–107. Colourless.

Size. Largest specimen (NMZB-UM 2542— Chilongowelo, Zambia) 540 mm in total length.

Habitat. Savanna - Miombo woodland and Sumbu thicket. Found crawling upon red earth and dug up in a potato patch in Abercorn ( Vesey-FitzGerald 1958). The Tatanda specimen was ploughed up by oxen.

Distribution. Southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northeastern Zambia and southwestern Tanzania, 700–1400 m ( Fig. 10 ).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Kaswabilenga IRSNB 2203; Lukafu MCZ 42896; MRAC 7251 (holotype of T. leptosoma ), 7252; Lukonzolwa IRSNB 4972; MRAC 7375 (holotype of T. katangensis ). ZAMBIA. Buleya ( Broadley & Pitman 1960); Chilongowelo NMZB-UM 2542; Fwambo ( Boulenger 1896) BMNH 94.12.20.8; Kaputa IRSNB 8628; Mbala IRSNB 2826, 2827 (4); 9038; MCZ 54051-52, 54054, 183654; NMZB 2540-41; PEM 713; Mporokoso IRSNB 8625; Mukupa IRSNB 8629. TANZANIA. Kitungulu ( Sternfeld 1910) ZMB 44090 (holotype); Tatanda NMZB 6665.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Histograms showing number of specimens in each 1 cm size class for Letheobia species. The vertical units shown for L. wittei indicate single specimens.

FIGURE 2. Hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships of Typhlopoidea species groups (after Wallach, 1998 b: Fig. 4).

FIGURE 3. The Letheobia obtusa complex: dorsal, lateral and ventral views of head of: A. L. obtusa (BMNH 1947.1. 1.24 – Blantyre, Malawi, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 42); B. L. decorosa (MNHN 1966 - 1251 – Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 44); C. L. jubana sp. nov. (CAS 151201, holotype – Mareri, Juba River, Somalia, J. Boundy illustration). The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

FIGURE 5. The Letheobia rufescens complex: dorsal, lateral and ventral views of head of: A. L. largeni sp. nov. (BMNH 1974.5162, holotype – Gambela, Ethiopia, after Largen, 1978: Fig. 7); B. L. wittei (IRSNB 2511, holotype – Vandia-poshe, Democratic Republic of Congo, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 179); C. L. rufescens (MNHN 1916.262, holotype – Haut Oubangui, Central African Republic, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 167). The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

FIGURE 7. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of: A. L. gracilis (ZMB 44030, holotype – Kitungulu, Zimbabwe, after Witte, 1966: Fig. 5); B. L. sudanensis (MRAC 3232, paratype – Faradje, Democratic Republic of Congo, after Roux- Estève, 1974: Fig. 171); C. L. lumbriciformis (ZMB 8045 A, syntype – Zanzibar coast, after Roux-Estève, 1974: Fig. 155. The lines indicate 1 mm to scale.

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