Leptotyphlops macrops Broadley & Wallach

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 33-34

Leptotyphlops macrops Broadley & Wallach ( Plate 9 , Fig. 3)

Goggle-eyed worm snake

Glauconia emini — Sternfeld, 1908: 242 (Kikuyu); Loveridge, 1916: 82 (part, Jilore).

Glauconia longicauda — Angel, 1925: 30.

Leptotyphlops conjunctus conjunctus — Spawls, 1978: 2 (part, Jilore)

Leptotyphlops nigricans — Hallerman & Rödel, 1995: 5.

Leptotyphlops macrops Broadley & Wallach, 1996 , Copeia, 1996: 162. Type locality: Mkwaja Forests, Pangani District, Tanga Region, Tanzania (05°52’S, 38°47’E, elevation below 100 m), holotype NMZB 11352 , collected by A . Cockle, 10 September 1991; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 35; Spawls et al., 2002: 303.

Diagnosis. A member of the Leptotyphlops nigricans species group, distinguished from all others except L. howelli and L. pembae by the large eye beneath a bulge in the ocular shield and higher counts for both middorsals and subcaudals. It differs from L. howelli and L. pembae in its more numerous middorsals (272–313 vs 229–269) and lacking white patches on chin and throat.

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

Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.40–0.53 head width, mean = 0.46), much wider than nasals anteriorly and extending to a point level with the centre of the eye, a weak preoral groove present ventrally. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril nearer to rostral than supralabial along nasal suture), moderate anterior supralabial that reaches the level of nostril with a width along lip equal to that of infranasal, large ocular with large eye protruding beneath a bulge at the upper anterior edge, and tall posterior supralabial. Supraoculars pentagonal, slightly larger than the hexagonal frontal, subequal to postfrontal, which is smaller than the interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals oblique, larger than the fused occipitals, in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, five infralabials.

Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales. Reduction to 10 rows on the tail takes place lateral to the subtriangular cloacal shield. Total middorsals (237) 272–322; subcaudals 30–44.

Total length/diameter ratio 53–73; total length/tail ratio 8.0–12.8.

Dorsum and venter uniformly black (cloacal shield white in KMH 12737).

Size. Largest specimen (NMZB 13730 — Magrotto Hill, Muheza, Tanzania) 268 + 24 = 292 mm.

Habitat. Coastal forest and environs.

Distribution. Coastal Kenya from Pangani southwards to northeast Tanzania, 0–100 m, with one old specimen from Kikuyu in the Kenya highlands, 2285 m ( Plate 5 ).

Localities. KENYA. Gede Ruins NMK/O. 2858, 3201; Jilore Forest NMK/O. 936–7; Kikuyu ZMB 22036; Pangani NMW 32079 (3). TANZANIA. Amani Nature Reserve NMZB 16147; Bamba Ridge Forest Reserve NMZB 17169; Kambai Forest KMH 12737, ZMUC/R. 5315; Kulumezi Caves, Tanga MNHN 1923.118; Magrotto Hill KMH 11208, NMZB 13730; Manga Forest Reserve NMZB 14102; Mchungu Forest Reserve NMZB 10455; Mkwaja Forests NMZB 11352; Semdoe Forest Reserve NMZB 15610.

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.