Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus (Jan & Sordelli)

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 29-30

Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus (Jan & Sordelli) ( Plate 9 , Fig. 1)

Sudan beaked worm-snake

Stenostoma (Ramphostoma) macrorhynchum Jan & Sordelli, 1860 in 1860–1866, Icon. Gen. Ophid. 1: livr. 1, Pls. 5 & 6, fig. 12. Type locality: Sennar, Al Jazirah Province, Central Region, Sudan (13°32’N, 33°37’E, elevation 350 m), holotype destroyed by fire (formerly in MSNM).

Ramphostoma macrorhynchum — Jan, 1861: 190, 1863: 16, 1864: 39.

Glauconia macrorhynchus — Boulenger, 1890: 92, 1893: 61, 1915c: 643 (part), 1920: 299 (part); Werner, 1907: 42, 1917: 201 (part).

Glauconia fiechteri Scortecci, 1929 , Atti. Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat., Milano, 68: 266 (part), fig. (unnumbered). Type locality: Villabruzzi, Giohar, Somalia (02°46’N, 45°31’E, 100 m), lectotype, MSNM 582 (formerly MSNM 2032a), collected by U. Fiechter, 9 December 1928; Wallach & Lanza 2004: 85.

Leptotyphlops cairi — Gans & Laurent, 1965: 49.

Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus — Haas, 1959: 90, figs. 1–2; Villiers, 1975: 85 (part), figs. 107–108; Kramer & Schnurrenberger, 1963: 477, fig. 1; Corkill & Cochrane, 1966: 496; Lanza, 1972: 174; Hahn, 1978: 482; Arnold, 1980: 314, 1987: 253; Farag & Banaja, 1980: 13; Leviton & Aldrich, 1984: xxiv; Werner, 1982: 156 (part), 1987: 283 (part); Gallagher & Arnold, 1988: 411 (Mintirib); Leviton et al., 1992: 82 (part), pl. 13C; Meirte, 1992: 15, fig. 28; Largen & Rasmussen, 1993: 324; Schleich et al., 1996: 475 (part), pl. 41, fig. 117; Largen, 1997: 87; Sahel, 1997: 132, pl. 76; Schätti & Desvoignes, 1999: 78; Baha el Din, 2006: 221, figs. A–B [p. 223], pl. 82.

Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus macrorhynchus — Villiers, 1950: 56 (part), figs. 54–55, 1963: 86 (part), figs. 92–93; Hahn, 1980: 20; Lanza, 1983: 220, 1990: 431; Schleich et al., 1996: 477 (part); Gasperetti, 1988: 200, fig. 14.

Leptotyphlops longicaudus, Hahn, 1980: 19 (part); Lanza, 1983: 220, 1990: 431.

Diagnosis. A member of the Leptotyphlops longicaudus group, differing from L. longicaudus in its strongly hooked snout and relatively shorter tail (total length/tail ratio 10.0–14.3 vs 5.7–11.0). It differs from L. cairi in being unpigmented, having a beak, and a longer, thinner body. Skull with a large frontoparietal foramen like L. cairi .

Description. Body cylindrical, with head and neck slightly broadened, the moderate tail tapers to a small blunt terminal cone.

Snout hooked in lateral view with distinct beak, rostral moderate (0.36–0.60 head width, mean = 0.50), much wider than nasals dorsally, not reaching level of eyes. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial with a width along lip equal to that of infranasal, large ocular with small eye or eyespot centrally placed in upper half, and moderate posterior supralabial. Frontal, supraoculars, and postfrontal subequal, forming a rather floral-like rosette pattern (as if cut from a single large median rounded shield). Supraoculars subpentagonal, anteriorly wedged between upper nasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between frontal and postfrontal, both smaller than interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals transverse, larger than the occipitals (which are not fused, but usually fused elsewhere in the species range), in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, four infralabials.

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales. Reduction to 10 rows takes place lateral to the subtriangular cloacal shield. Total middorsals 315–404; subcaudals 26–43.

Total length/diameter ratio 64–133; total length/tail ratio 10.0–15.7.

Dorsum unpigmented, pale reddish-brown or pink (in life) to beige or tan (in preservative), venter cream to white, but a specimen from Sodere, Ethiopia, has the subcaudals pigmented.

Size: Largest specimen ( NMK /O. 2661 — Porr Hill , Turkana, Kenya) 150 + 10 = 160 mm .

Habitat. Sandy areas of dry savanna and semi-desert. At least parapatric with Leptotyphlops cairi at the type locality and in the lower Nile Valley near Cairo, Egypt ( Baha el Din, 2006) .

Distribution. Gambia (type of Glauconia natatrix Andersson fide Wallach 2003), east through the Sahel and Sudanese savanna to the Horn of Africa, north to Turkey, south to Kenya and northern Tanzania, 0–1250 m ( Plate 5 ). The status of populations in West Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan and northwest India remains be investigated.

Localities. SUDAN. Daragaia, N. Kordofan NMW 15458; Gabl el Meghahir (White Nile) BMNH 1900.9.22.23; Kosti (White Nile) BMNH 1914.8.17.10; Sennar ( Jan, 1860). ETHIOPIA. Sodere BH uncat. KENYA. No locality MVZ 200827; NMK/O. uncat.; NMZB 14881; 20 km N of Kimana ZFMK 41670; Nariokotome River, west Turkana NMK/O. 3014; Olorgesaille NMK/O. 2729; Porr Hill, east Turkana NMK/O. 2661; Sankuri MNHG 1561.87; Wajir CAS 146971; NHCL 1548. TANZANIA. NE side of Mount Meru CAS 89734. SOMALIA. 10 km S of Bedawarak MCZ 74163; Bosaso NHCL 1800–02; Southern Somalia NHCL 1542.

Figures

PLATE 5. Leptotyphlops. Distribution of the Leptotyphlops parkeri, L. reticulatus, L. longicaudus and L. nigricans species groups in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia.

PLATE 9. Figure 1. Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus. Dorsal and lateral views of the head of BMNH 1932.5.2.9 — Mouth of Kaliokwell River, Kenya. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 2. Leptotyphlops pembae. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of BMNH 1947.1.1.43 — Kisiwani, Pemba Island, Tanzania. The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 3. Leptotyphlops macrops. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of the holotype, NMZB 11352 — Mkwaja Forests, Tanzania, after Broadley & Wallach (1996). The line represents 1 mm to scale. Figure 4. Leptotyphlops emini. Dorsal, lateral and ventral views of the head of CAS 227770 from Kapaka Game Control Area, Mpande District, Tanzania. The line represents 1 mm to scale.