Leptotyphlops pembae Loveridge, 1941

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 32-33

Leptotyphlops pembae Loveridge ( Plate 9 , Fig. 2)

Pemba worm snake

Glauconia emini — Boettger, 1913, Reise in Ostafrika, 3: 351, pl. 25, fig. 2; Werner, 1917: 204 (part).

Leptotyphlops emini — Loveridge, 1925: 72; Moreau & Pakenham, 1941: 108 (part).

Leptotyphlops emini pembae Loveridge 1941 , Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 54: 177. Type locality: Wingwi Pwana, Pemba Island, Tanzania (05°01’S, 39°50’E, near sea level), holotype MCZ 46116, collected by R.H.W. Pakenham, 4 October 1923; Loveridge, 1957: 247; Moreau & Pakenham, 1942: 62; Pakenham, 1983: 22; Meirte, 1992: 16; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 29.

Leptotyphlops nigricans pembae — Broadley & Watson, 1976: 485; Broadley & Howell, 1991: 22.

Leptotyphlops pembae — Spawls et al., 2002: 303.

Diagnosis. A member of the Leptotyphlops nigricans species group, closest to L. macrops , with which it agrees in having a large eye beneath a bulge in the ocular shield (but less well developed) and a relatively long tail with 28–39 subcaudals. It differs from that species in having fewer total dorsals (247–269 vs 272–322) and having extensive white patches on chin and throat.

Description. Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, the moderate tail tapers to a small terminal spine.

Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.39–0.54 head width, mean = 0.43), broader than nasals anteriorly and extending to a line connecting the eyes posteriorly, rostral without a preoral groove ventrally. Behind rostral, lip bordered by infranasal [except on right side of holotype where supralabial contacts rostral along lip] (nostril nearer to rostral than supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial with width along lip 1.5– 3.0 times that of infranasal, ocular with large eye placed near anterior border, and tall posterior supralabial. Supraoculars pentagonal, anteriorly wedged between supranasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between hexagonal frontal and postfrontal, the frontal subequal to a supraocular, the postfrontal larger and subequal to the hexagonal interparietal, the interoccipital smaller and subequal to the vertebral series of dorsal scales following it. Parietals transverse, larger than the fused occipitals, 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 scale rows on the tail takes place lateral to the subtriangular cloacal shield. Total middorsals 247–269, subcaudals 28–39.

Total length/ diameter ratio 45–68; total length/tail ratio 6.2–11.8.

Uniformly dark brown to black dorsum and venter except for irregular white patches on chin and throat.

Size. Largest specimen ( BMNH 1940.1 .18.71 — Wambaa , Pemba Island, Tanzania) 195 + 25 = 220 mm .

Habitat. Clove plantations and sandy grassland.

Distribution. Endemic to Pemba Island, Tanzania, near sea level ( Plate 5 ).

Localities. TANZANIA, PEMBA ISLAND: No specific locality BMNH 1950.1.5.31; Chakechake MCZ 19111; Kinazini MCZ 46117; Kinowe MCZ 46118; Kisiwani BMNH 1947.1.1.43; Kondi BMNH 1947.3.3.35; Mitatuni BMNH 1940.1.18.70; 1947.1.2.87–89; Mizi BMNH 1940.1.18.69; Vitongoje MCZ 46119–20; Wambaa BMNH 1940.1.18.70.

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.