Leptotyphlops nigroterminus BROADLEY & WALLACH, 2007
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Leptotyphlops nigroterminus
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Leptotyphlopinae, Leptotyphlopini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Black-tip worm snake |
| Synonym | Leptotyphlops nigroterminus BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007: 40 Glauconia signata — STERNFELD 1910: 13 (part.) Leptotyphlops conjuncta — VESEY-FITZGERALD 1958: 35 Leptotyphlops scutifrons — SPAWLS et al. 2001: 299 (part) Leptotyphlops nigroterminus — ADALSTEINSSON, BRANCH, TRAPE, VITT & HEDGES 2009 Leptotyphlops nigroterminus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 369 Leptotyphlops nigroterminus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 370 |
| Distribution | SW Kenya, W Tanzania, 1000-1600 m elevation. Type locality: Karema, eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, Mpanda District, Rukwa Region, Tanzania (06°50’S, 30°50’E, elevation 950 m). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MCZ 54813, a male from collected by C.J.P. Ionides, 7 July 1956. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Apart from its distinctive skull, with a rhombic postparietal bone and paired parietals (Plate 4, Fig. 2A in BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007), this unique form differs from all other African species in its light brown colouration with the distal portion of the tail black. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, the short tail tapers slightly to a small terminal spine. Snout rounded, rostral broad (0.53–0.67 head width, mean = 0.59), fused with the frontal, unguiform, extending well beyond the level of the eyes, a preoral groove present ventrally. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril midway between rostral and supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial with width along lip twice that of infranasal, large but narrow ocular, and tall posterior supralabial. Supraoculars pentagonal, anteriorly wedged in between supranasal and ocular, posteriorly in straight contact with the hexagonal postfrontal, which is subequal in size to the supraoculars, interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals oblique and in contact with the posterior supralabials. Occipitals not fused (fused in all 5 paratypes). Temporal single. No mental, four infralabials. Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales. Reduction to 12 rows on the tail takes place lateral to the subtriangular cloacal shield, which is entire (tail rows 12 in the allotype, 10 in the four paratypes). Total middorsals 236 (228 in other male, 260–300 in females); subcaudals 23 (27 in other male; 25–27 in females). Total length 159 mm, tail 12 mm; midbody diameter 3.5mm. Total length/diameter ratio 45 (46–84); total length/tail ratio 13.2 (11.7–14.8). Middorsal seven scale rows medium brown, rostral and dorsal tail blackish-brown, paler brown ventrally, distal half of tail with black ring (in the smallest specimen of 82 mm total length only the extreme tip of the tail is black, in the other paratypes the distal third of tail has black ring). (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 52634 — Manyoni, Tanzania) 180 + 13 = 193 mm. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) |
| Comment | Habitat: The habitat in western Tanzania is miombo woodland, but in the Masai Mara Reserve in Kenya the vegetation is a mosaic of evergreen bushland and secondary Acacia wooded grassland. |
| Etymology | The specific name is derived from the diagnostic black tail tip; from the Latin niger = black and terminus = tip. |
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