Letheobia akagerae DEHLING, HINKEL, ENSIKAT, BABILON & FISCHER, 2018

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Higher Taxa	Typhlopidae (Afrotyphlopinae), Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Akagera Gracile Blind Snake
Synonym	Letheobia akagerae DEHLING, HINKEL, ENSIKAT, BABILON & FISCHER 2018
Distribution	Rwanda Type locality: Rwanda, Akagera National Park, Ruzizi Tented Lodge (1°54'24.90"S, 30°42'58.42"E; approx. 1290 m)
Reproduction	oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022)
Types	Holotype: ZFMK 100862, adult; collected on 8 July 2012 by construction workers, preserved by Kenny Babilon.
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: The new species is assignable to the genus Letheobia for showing the following characters that in combination are diagnostic (Pyron & Wallach, 2014): Dorsal and lateral head profiles rounded; rostral broad; T-0; lateral snout profile rounded; body form gracile; eye invisible; coloration pink (pigmentless); body with 22 longitudinal scale rows without reduction; tail short with 13 subcaudals and apical spine; inferior nasal suture in contact with first supralabial; preocular in contact with second and third supralabials; subocular present. It extends the known total length/midbody width ratio in the genus (42–129; Pyron & Wallach, 2014) to 131 and the known maximum number of middorsal scale rows for any species in the genus (311–737; Broadley & Wallach, 2007; Pyron & Wallach, 2014) to 834.
Comment	Habitat: Soil. The holotype of Letheobia akagerae was found when soil was dug during construction work. The type locality is in gallery forest near the shores of Lake Ihema at around 1290 m a.s.l. Three additional specimens were observed and photographed in tree savanna on a nearby hilltop in the headquarters area of the national park (1°52'29.56"S, 30°42'55.49"E; 1°52'37.32"S, 30°42'50.42"E; 01°52'39.05"S, 30°42'52.80"E; approx. 1600m a.s.l.) slithering on the ground after heavy rainfalls during the day.
Etymology	The specific epithet refers to the type locality, the Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda.
References	DEHLING, J. MAXIMILIAN; HARALD H. HINKEL, HANS-JÜRGEN ENSIKAT, KENNY BABILON, EBERHARD FISCHER 2018. A new blind snake of the genus Letheobia (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from Rwanda with redescriptions of L. gracilis (Sternfeld, 1910) and L. graueri (Sternfeld, 1912) and the introduction of a non-invasive preparation procedure for scanning electron mic Zootaxa 4378 (4): 480-490 - get paper here Wallach, V. & Gemel, R. 2018. Typhlops weidholzi n. inedit., a new species of Letheobia from the republic of Cameroon, and a synopsis of the genus (Squamata: Serpentes: Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae). Herpetozoa 31 (1/2): 27 - 46 - get paper here Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
External links	https://www.facebook.com/groups/stshc/posts/324338023124136/ Google images

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