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
.