Afrotyphlops congestus (Duméril & Bibron)

Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, Van, 2009, 2255, Zootaxa 2255, pp. 1-100 : 46-47

Afrotyphlops congestus (Duméril & Bibron)

( Fig. 8C)

Blotched blind-snake

Onychocephalus congestus Duméril & Bibron, 1844 , Erpét. Gén. 6: 334. Type locality: unknown, holotype Fort Pitt Museum, Chatham, UK (lost fide A. Grandison in Roux-Estève, 1974: 79); Peters, 1860: 82, 1865: 262; Hahn, 1980: 68; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 96.

Onychophis barrowii Gray, 1845 , Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus., 133. Type locality: “ India?” (in error fide Hahn, 1980: 68 ), holotype BMNH 1946.1.11.63, collected by Sir John Barrow; Peters, 1865: 262; Hahn, 1980: 68; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 96.

Typhlops (Onychocephalus) crassatus Peters, S. -Ber. Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin, 1881(3): 50. Type locality: “Chinchoxo” [= Cabinda, Angola] (5.550°S, 12.200°E, elevation NSL), holotype ZMB 9149, from Afrikanische Gesellschaft; Hahn, 1980: 68; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 96; Bauer et al., 2002: 163.

Typhlops punctatus congesta — Werner, 1913b: 717.

Typhlops punctatus — (not Leach) Boulenger, 1919: 18 (part).

Typhlops congestus — Camp, 1923: 302, fig. 53; Schmidt, K., 1923: 48 (part); Werner, 1929: 176; Pitman, 1938: 45, pl. 1, fig. 4; Laurent, 1954b: 296, 1956a: 53 & 348, figs. 1–2, pl. 7, fig. 1, 1958: 120, 1960a: 9, 1964: 413, 1965: 14; Witte, 1962: 39; Roux-Estève, 1965: 52, fig. 1; Thys van den Audenaerde, 1965: 369; Bourgeois, 1968: 277; McDowell, 1972: 239; Hahn, 1977: 38, 1980: 68; Meirte, 1992: 22, figs. 29–31; Broadley, 1998b: xii, 2000b: 15; Wallach, 1998a: 182, 1998b: 369; Mattison, 1999: 147; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 96; Stafford, 2000: 28, fig.; Spawls et al., 2002: 287, 2006: 92; Murphy, 2003: 552; Brogard, 2005: 114.

Typhlops punctatus punctatus — (not Leach) Witte, 1941: 167; Loveridge, 1957b: 241 (part).

Typhlops punctatus congestus — Roux-Estève, 1974: 79, 106, figs. 13.17 & 65, 1975a: 492, fig. 30; Guibé in Pitman, 1974: 59; Pitman, 1974: 62, pl. 1, fig. 4, pl. U, fig. 2; Hahn, 1980: 68; Welch, 1982: 130, 1994: 73; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 97.

Typhlops crassatus — Hahn, 1977: 38.

Rhinotyphlops congestus — Broadley & Wallach, 2000: 167; Branch, 2005: 11, fig.

Description. Snout rounded in dorsal view, obtusely angular in lateral view. Rostral broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal subhexagonal, but flattened anteriorly; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between preocular and ocular; eye large, behind or below the posterior border of the preocular; nasal sulcus arising from near the rostral/first labial junction; SIP usually T-II-P (N2, N2/P, O, O), but T-X-(P) in two Akange specimens and a Likwaye juvenile; MSR 24–30, reduction A/B 0 to 4, B/C 4 to 7; MD 310–416 (mean 378.3, n = 30); vertebrae 194–206 (mean 200.3, n = 15); MD/V ratio 1.86–2.06 (mean 1.93, n = 15); L/D ratio 19–29 (mean 23.1, n = 42). Yellowish with large black blotches which may be confluent, so that the dorsum is entirely black, venter immaculate mesially, but black blotches may impinge laterally. Largest specimen (MRAC 821—Haut Oubangui, Democratic Republic of the Congo) has a total length of 765 mm.

Distribution. Forests of southeastern Nigeria and Bioko east through the Congos to western Uganda. A relict population in southeastern Tanzania, 150–1435 m ( Fig. 12).

Localities. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (Orientale Province). Akange AMNH 11648– 51, 11653–63; MMK 680/2; Irumu MCZ 26652; Medje AMNH 11646–47; NMZB 3738; Niapu AMNH 11666–67; MMK 680/1; Teturi to Butembo IRSNB 3204, 3208–09. (Kivu Province). Bukavu MRAC 11907– 08; Fataki AMNH 51938; Hombo MCZ 57458; MRAC 18987–9; Irangi MRAC 20422–22A, 21428–29; ZFMK 61602–03, 61637; Lubongola MRAC 11940; Meshe MRAC 17565; Walikale MRAC 17566–67. (Bas- Zaire Province) Kisantu Botanical Gardens BMNH 1980.31. UGANDA. Budongo Forest BMNH 1935.10.9.1; Bewera; Bugoma Forest; Bwamba Forest; Kakoba; Kiriandongo; Mbarara; Omubugoiogo ( Pitman, 1974). TANZANIA. Amani ( Werner, 1913b); Likwaye ZMB 23577, 23589.