A new species of gracile blind snake in the genus Letheobia (Squamata: Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae) from Sagalla Hill, south-eastern Kenya

ABSTRACT

The members of the typhlopid Letheobia pallida group are characterised by having a divided or split ocular scale. Letheobia wrayi sp. nov., differs from all other members of this group by having a low mid-dorsal scale count of 355 (other taxa 376–670). It also has a rostral which is rounded, not truncated posteriorly, and its nasal suture arises from the base of the first (not second) labial. In the new species the number of middorsal scales is similar to that of L. swahilica, but it is larger in total body length (245 mm compared to 190 mm). Letheobia wrayi sp. nov., differs from L. toritensis and L. pallida that have > 400 mid-dorsals. The new species can be distinguished from L. mbeerensis (mid-dorsals > 600, long tail 2.9% vs 1.2% short tail). It is known only from the holotype collected on the Sagalla Hill–Taita Hills at an elevation of about 1 100 m within a dry deciduous forest zone.

KEYWORDS:

• Typhlopidae
• Letheobia pallida
• Taita Hills
• Kenya
• burrowing

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Van Wallach for his guidance on the line drawings and for providing the key reference literature on supralabial imbrication patterns (SIP) in Typhlopoidea. I am grateful to BIOTA-East project-Germany (2005–2007) for funding the Taita Hills project. I am very grateful to my field assistants, Peter Mwasi and Peter Alama who collected this single specimen when they went to Sagalla Hill from the main Taita Hills block, despite their focus being to search for Sagalla Caecilian. It is their effort that has led to the discovery of this species. Many thanks go to Joshua Sese Bichang’a of NatureKenya for making line drawings of the specimen and locality map.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.