Afrotyphlops usambaricus (Laurent)

Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, Van, 2009, 2255, Zootaxa 2255, pp. 1-100 : 41-42

Afrotyphlops usambaricus (Laurent)

( Fig. 7B)

Usambara blind-snake

Typhlops “intermediate between punctatus and gierrai , ” Barbour & Loveridge, 1928: 106; Hahn, 1980: 62.

Typhlops boulengeri usambaricus Laurent, 1964b , Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 130(6): 416. Type locality: “Amani, Usambara Mns.” [= Tanzania] (5.100°S, 38.633°E, elevation 750 m), holotype MCZ 38699, collected by R.E. Moreau, June 1935; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 93.

Typhlops lineolatus lineolatus — (not Jan) Roux-Estève, 1974: 80, 90, 124 (part); Hahn, 1980: 62 (part); Rasmussen, 1981: 175.

Typhlops usambaricus — Wallach, 1998b: 452; Spawls et al., 2002: 288, fig., 2006: 92.

Rhinotyphlops usambaricus — Broadley & Wallach, 2000: 167.

Description. Snout rounded in dorsal view, obtusely angular in lateral view. Rostral broad (70% head width), concave posteriorly, extending back to level of eyes; frontal subtrapezoidal, broad and shallow; frontal, interparietal and interoccipital slightly wider than the scales of vertebral row; supraocular oblique, its lateral apex just inserting between nasal and preocular, or not contacting the preocular; nasal much larger than preocular; eye large, near the anterior border of the ocular; nasal sulcus arising from first labial; SIP T-X (N2, P, O O); MSR 26–28, reduction A/B 2, B/C 4; MD 344–389 (mean 372.0, n = 4); vertebrae 196–211 (mean 203.5, n = 2); MD/V ratio 1.76–1.84 (mean 1.80, n = 2); L/D ratio 27–31 (mean 28.5, n = 3). Yellowish with large black dorsal blotches, venter immaculate. Largest specimen (UDSM 1274—Amani, Tanzania) has a total length of 605 mm.

Distribution. Endemic to the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, 750 m ( Fig. 13).

Localities. TANZANIA. Amani MCZ 23093 (paratype of Typhlops boulengeri usambaricus Laurent ) , 38699 (holotype of Typhlops boulengeri usambaricus Laurent ); NMZB 16146 ; UDSM 1274 ; ZMUC 52186 .