Afrotyphlops gierrai (Mocquard)

Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, Van, 2009, 2255, Zootaxa 2255, pp. 1-100 : 38

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 .