2255 Author Broadley, Donald G. Author Wallach, Van text Zootaxa 2009 2009-10-08 2255 1 100 journal article 1175­5334 Afrotyphlops gierrai (Mocquard) ( Fig. 6C ) Gierra’s blind-snake Typhlops gierrai Mocquard, 1897 , Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris, 3(1): 123. Type locality: “ Tanga , Afrique orientale” [= Tanzania ] ( 10.567°S , 35.683°E , 920 m ), holotype MNHN 1897.24, collected by Gierra; Boettger, 1913: 364 ; Werner, 1921: 276 , 328; Barbour & Loveridge, 1928: 89 ; Laurent, 1956a: 49 , 1964b: 417 ; Werner, 1921: 328 ; Roux- Estève, 1974: 133 (part), figs. 13.20, 87 & 88, 1975a: 492, fig. 30; Hahn, 1977: 37 , 1980: 58 ; Rasmussen, 1981: 174 ; Rodgers & Homewood, 1982: 238 ; Welch, 1982: 129 , 1994: 67 ; Hughes, 1983: 353 ; Broadley & Howell, 1991: 21 (part); Meirte, 1992: 22 ; Howell, 1993 : tab. 9.1; Wallach, 1993a: 217 , 1998a: 183 , 1998b: 383 ; Frank & Ramus, 1995: 253 ; Burgess et al., 1998: 55 ; Johansson et al., 1998: 156 ; Mattison, 1999: 147 ; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 103 ; Spawls et al., 2002: 286 (part), 2006: 89 (part); Murphy, 2003: 552 ; Brogard, 2005: 115 . Typhlops punctatus (not Leach) Nieden, 1910: 442 (Amani). Typhlops gierrae (sic) Boulenger, 1915b: 615 ; Loveridge, 1924: 3 ; Hughes, 1983: 316 . Typhlops guirrae (sic)— Schmidt, 1923: 33 ; Hahn, 1980: 58 ; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 103 . Typhlops punctatus gierrai Barbour & Loveridge, 1928: 106 (part); Loveridge, 1929b: 14 , 1932: 246 , 1957b: 242 (part); Hahn, 1980: 58 ; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 103 . Typhlops punctatus gierrei (sic) Uthmöller, 1941a: 42 . Rhinotyphlops gierrai Broadley & Wallach, 2000: 167 . ? Rhinotyphlops nigrocandidus Brogard, 2005: 114 . Description. Snout rounded. Rostral oval, narrow ventrally; frontal subhexagonal to subtrapezoidal; supraocular oblique, its lateral apex between nasal and preocular (rarely between preocular and ocular); eye below preocular/ocular sulcus; nasal sulcus arising from the first labial; SIP T - II-P (N2, N2/LP, O, O), with a small intercalary scale below the true upper preocular; MSR 26–28, reduction A/B 0–3, B/C 1–6; MD 372–463 (mean 429.4, n = 32); vertebrae 225–239 (mean 229.4, n = 10); MD/V ratio 1.78–1.88 (mean 1.85, n = 10); L/ D ratio 32–58 (mean 42.4, n = 23). Dorsal scales blue-grey mesially, black laterally and basally, this lineolate pattern may have superimposed large irregular black blotches, venter immaculate yellow. Largest specimen (MNHN 1897.24— Tanga ) originally 480 mm , now 469 mm . Distribution. Endemic to the Usambara and Uluguru Mountains, 600–1042 m ( Fig. 12 ). Localities. TANZANIA . Amani MCZ 23086–90 ; NMZB 16379–80 ; ZMB 20866, 28983 , 58376 , 58379– 82 ; Buloa ZMB 13228 ; East Usambaras NMZB 13642–43 , UDSM 1275 ; Kwamgumi Forest Reserve NMZB 15395 ; Kwamkoro road, Amani ZMUC 52191 ; Mlalo , West Usambara Mtns. BMNH 1927.8.17.8; MCZ 23473, 125176 ; Mount Lutindi MCZ 23091 ; Pangani ZMB 16121 ; Tanga MNHN 1897.24 ( holotype of Typhlops gierrai Mocquard ), ZMB 13312, 17803 , 29187 .