Anilios leptosoma (ROBB, 1972)
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Anilios leptosoma
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| Higher Taxa | Typhlopidae (Asiatyphlopinae), Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Murchison Blind Snake |
| Synonym | Ramphotyphlops leptosomus ROBB 1972: 39 Typhlina leptosoma — HAHN 1980 Ramphotyphlops leptosoma — STORR 1981: 256 Ramphotyphlops leptosomus — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 67 Ramphotyphlops leptosoma — COGGER 2000: 593 Austrotyphlops leptosomus — WALLACH 2006 Ramphotyphlops leptosomus — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 414 Ramphotyphlops leptosomus — MARIN et al. 2013 Anilios leptosomus — HEDGES et al. 2014 Ramphotyphlops leptosoma — COGGER 2014: 804 Anilios leptosomus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 39 Anilios leptosoma — ELLIS et al. 2017 |
| Distribution | Australia (Western Australia) Type locality: “The Loop”, lower Murchison River, Western Australia (27°33'S; 114°28'E) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: WAM R29623, adult male; Paratype. WAM R29624, from ‘The Loop’, lower Murchison River, 35 km north-east of Kalbarri (27°33'S; 114°28'E) Western Australia, September 1967. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A moderately long, slender Anilios to about 400 mm total length. Distinguished from all other Anilios by a combination of midbody scales in 16 rows, dorsal body scales 583–781, snout in profile prominent with obtusely angular horizontal edge, snout rounded and weakly trilobed in dorsal view, nasal cleft originating from second supralabial, extending anteriorly to nostril and terminating at rostral scale, presence of a terminal tail spine and lack of any black colouration on head, body or tail [Ellis et al. 2017]. Color: Snout horn-coloured. Remaining dorsal surfaces purplish-brown, gradually becoming paler ventrally. Comparison with other species. Anilios leptosoma can be distinguished from all but three Anilios species (A. longissimus, A. minimus and A. nema) by its slender elongate body and low MBSR counts (16 vs 18, 20, 22 or 24) which does not differ within any species of the genus. Of the remaining three Anilios species with 16 MBSR (A. longissimus, A. minimus and A. nema), A. leptosoma can be distinguished by the termination point of nasal cleft at rostral completely dividing the nasal scale (vs terminating at nostril in A. longissimus and A. minimus, or midway between nostril and rostral in A. nema), higher number of dorsal body scale rows (583–781 vs 381–457 in A. minimus and 520–589 in A. nema) and a less depressed head in comparison to A. longissimus. Within its distribution, A. leptosoma is most similar in general appearance to A. systenos sp. nov., A. obtusifrons sp. nov. and A. grypus; however, it is easily diagnosed by the low MBSR (16 vs 18 in A. systenos sp. nov., A. obtusifrons sp. nov. and A. grypus) and a combination of absence of a hooked beak (vs distinct hook in A. grypus), termination point of the nasal cleft at the rostral scale (midway between nostril and rostral in A. obtusifrons sp. nov.) and absence of any black pigment on the head or tail (vs black pigment on head and/or tail in A. grypus) [Ellis et al. 2017]. |
| Comment | Habitat: specimens were collected from habitats supporting loose sands or loam substrates of various colour. One specimen was collected in open mallee woodland with Banksia ashbyi to 5 m with a canopy cover of less than 10% over Spinifex longifolius and mixed small to medium shrubs to 1.5 m with cover ranging from 30–70%, from soil below a clump of spinifex (R66343). One specimen was collected from amongst the roots of spinifex in a burnt eucalypt woodland on red soil (R57545) and another was found in a mallee woodland with low Acacia on yellowish-brown sand. Specimens from Binnu were raked from red sandy loam spoil heaps in Acacia and Casuarina shrubland (R146454–56, R146459). Two specimens (R55038 and R55039) were collected from under a cement slab at Wooramel homestead garden [Ellis et al. 2017]. |
| Etymology | Derived from the Greek words leptos meaning fine or thin and soma meaning body in reference to the thin thread-like appearance of the species. The amendment to the specific epithet to A. ‘leptosomus’ by McDiarmid et al. (1999) and subsequently accepted by other authors (Hedges et al. 2014; Pyron & Wallach 2014; Wallach et al. 2014) is not warranted as it is a noun in apposition (Shea 2015). As Robb (1972) did not state explicitly the use of the word ‘soma’ as a noun or adjective, it is to be treated as a noun and does not change from A. leptosoma with the resurrection of Anilios by Hedges et al. (2014). However, note that Shea 2015 concluded that Anilios is male. |
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