Letheobia wittei (Roux-Estève), Roux-Esteve

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 : 48-49

Letheobia wittei (Roux-Estève)

( Fig 5 B)

De Witte’s gracile blind-snake

Typhlops vrydaghi – (part) Witte 1966: 50.

Rhinotyphlops wittei Roux-Estève 1974 , Mem. Mus. Natn. Hist. Nat., sér. A. Zool. 87: 239, Fig. 179. Type locality: Vandia-Poshe, rég. riv. Liki-Bembe, terr. Libenge, Distr. Ubangi, Prov. Équateur, Zaire [= Democratic Republic of Congo] (ca. 04°30’N, 19°00’E, elevation 520 m), collected by Cremer & Neumann, 23 August 1948, holotype IRSNB 2511; Roux-Estève 1975: 445; Hahn 1980: 36; Lang 1990: 20; Meirte 1992: 20; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 88. Letheobia wittei – Chirio & Ineich, 2006: 42.

Description. Snout with an angular horizontal edge. Rostral very broad, rounded posteriorly; frontal very large and deep, crescentic, in broad contact with nasals; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex wedged between preocular and ocular, which is separated from the labials by a very large subocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from second labial; SIP II (N1, P, S, S); scale rows 20-20-20; MD 501–505; vertebrae 368–374; MD/V ratio 1.35–1.36; L/D ratio 68. Very faintly pigmented.

Size. Largest specimen (IRSNB 2511 – holotype) 310 mm in total length.

Habitat. Lowland rain forest.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality, opposite Bangui in Libenge Territory, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo ( Fig. 11 ).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Vania-Posche, IRSNB 2511 (holotype), 2512 (paratype).

Figures

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 11. Distribution of the north-central African species of Letheobia and L. jubana in north-east Africa (inset, top left).