Leptotyphlops emini (BOULENGER, 1890)
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Leptotyphlops emini
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Leptotyphlopinae, Leptotyphlopini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Emin Pasha’s worm snake |
| Synonym | Glauconia emini BOULENGER 1890 Glauconia emini — BOULENGER 1893: 64 Stenostoma emini — TORNIER 1896: 67 Glauconia monticola CHABANAUD 1916: 366 Leptotyphlops nigricans — SCHMIDT 1923 (fide ROUX-ESTEVE 1975) Leptotyphlops emini — LOVERIDGE 1933: 223 Leptotyphlops emini emini — LOVERIDGE 1941: 177 Leptotyphlops conjunctus conjunctus — BROADLEY & BROADLEY, 1976: 490 (part.) Leptotyphlops emini — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 29 Leptotyphlops emini — BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007: 34 Leptotyphlops monticolus — BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007: 35 Leptotyphlops emini — ADALSTEINSSON, BRANCH, TRAPE, VITT & HEDGES 2009 Leptotyphlops monticolus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 368 Leptotyphlops emini — WALLACH et al. 2014: 367 Leptotyphlops emini — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 366 |
| Distribution | Republic of South Sudan (RSS), south through W Uganda to W Tanzania, Kenya, E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), extreme N Zambia. monticolus: Type locality: Volcans de Kivori, Congo-Belge [= E. Kivu Region, Democratic Republic of the Congo], elevation 1500 m. Type locality: Karagwe, Victoria Nyanza, Tanzania. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: BMNH 1946.1.10.87 (designated by BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007) Holotype: MNHN 1916.213, collected by Gromier and Le Petit, 1911 [monticolus] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A member of the Leptotyphlops nigricans species group. Differs from L. kafubi in its fused parietal bones, lower middorsal counts and having the nostril separated from the rostral by a longer suture. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Description. Body cylindrical, with head and neck broadened and flattened, the short tail tapers slightly before a small spine or blunt tail cone. Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.43–0.53 head width, mean = 0.46), truncated posteriorly, much wider than nasals and extending to a line connecting centre of 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 that reaches level of nostril with a width along lip 2.0–3.0 times that of infranasal, large ocular with eye central in upper half, and large posterior supralabial. Supraoculars pentagonal, slightly larger than the hexagonal frontal and postfrontal, which are slightly smaller than the interparietal and interoccipital (note that the postfrontal is fused wuith the interparietal in the lectotype). Parietals oblique, subequal to the fused occipitals, in contact with the posterior supralabial. Temporal single. No mental. 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 198–244; subcaudals 20–32. Total length/diameter ratio 38–74; total length/tail ratio 8.1–15.3. Dorsum and venter uniformly dark brown to black, except upper lip, chin, and cloacal shield which are white. Skull with fused parietal bones as in L. nigricans (Plate 4, Fig. 1A). (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Size. Largest specimen (NMZB 14334 — Kyambura Game Reserve, Ankole, Uganda) 152 + 13 = 165 mm. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) |
| Comment | Synonymy: Has been synonymized previously with Leptotyphlops nigricans (e.g. HAHN 1980, BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991). Habitat. Savanna. BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007 recognized Glauconia monticola as valid species but gave an insufficient diagnosis: “A member of the Leptotyphlops nigricans species group, distinguished from neighbouring L. emini by its relatively higher middorsal counts.” |
| Etymology | Named after Eduard Schnitzer (1840-1892), a German physician who worked in Albania (then under Turkish rule) and who became later known as Emin Pasha, Emin meaning "faithful one." He also traveled to Africa where he became Governor (”Pasha”) of the southern Sudanese province of Equatoria (1878). Emin's claim to fame was that he abolished slavery in the territories he commanded-which is probably why he was beheaded by slave traders in the region of Lake Tanganyika. |
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