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Letheobia episcopus (FRANZEN & WALLACH, 2002)

IUCN Red List - Letheobia episcopus - Data Deficient, DD
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Higher TaxaTyphlopidae (Afrotyphlopinae), Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymRhinotyphlops episcopus FRANZEN & WALLACH 2002: 177
Rhinotyphlops episcopus — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006
Letheobia episcopus — BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007
Letheobia episcopus — GÖCMEN et al. 2009
Letheobia episcopus — HEDGES et al. 2014
Letheobia episcopus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 379
Letheobia episcopus — MURAI et al. 2023 
DistributionSE Turkey, NW Syria

Type locality: 3 km north of Halfeti on road to Savasan Köyü, upper slopes of Euphrates River Valley, Sanliurfa Province, SE Turkey.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZFMK 74224, Paratypes: ZSM 948/2000, male 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. Rhinotyphlops episcopus is distinguished from other species in the genus (except Rhinotyphlops simoni, its sister species) by a depressed snout and concave rostral in lateral profile and a thin projecting transparent corneal rostral cutting edge. In R. episcopus this cutting eage is 0.24-0.29 mm in length, whereas in all African species of Rhinotyphlops it is less than 0.1 mm. This corneal projection may be moderately developed (R. simoni), poorly developed (Rhinotyphlops feae, Rhinotyphlops newtoni, Rhinotyphiops somalicus) or absent (Khinotyphiops crossii) within the R. simoni species group. Rhinotyphlops episcopus and R. simoni are considered sister taxa based upon the following synapomorphy: presence of the flattened, transparent projecting corneal edge to the rostral shield. Rhinotyphiops episcopus can be distinguished from R. simoni by the following characters (see also Tables 1-2): supralabial imbrication pattern 1-il, fragmentation of ocular shield into 2-3 narrow scales, transverse scale rows 544-581, postecular scales 5-6, frontal width/dorsal midrostral ratio 0.49-0.69, dorsal rostral length/width ratio 1.69-1.85, ventral rostral length/head diameter ratio 0.52-0.60, total length > 250 mm, and weakly pigmented dorsum. (Franzen & Wallach 2002)


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CommentDistribution: For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. 
EtymologyThe latinized form of the Greek noun episkopos, meaning "bishop," is episcopus. ft is used as a noun in apposition to the generic name. The species is named to honor Wolfgang Bischoff (ZFM.K), who collected most of the type material. Specific epithet is a noun in apposition and thus requires a “-us” ending fide Franzen & Wallach (2007: 261). 
References
  • Böhme, Wolfgang 2014. Herpetology in Bonn. Mertensiella 21. vi + 256 pp. - get paper here
  • Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, V. 2007. A review of East and Central African species of Letheobia Cope, revived from the synonymy of Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, with descriptions of five new species (Serpentes: Typhlopidae). Zootaxa 1515: 31–68 - get paper here
  • Franzen, M. & V. Wallach 2002. A new Rhinotyphlops from southeastern Turkey (Serpentes: Typhlopidae). Journal of Herpetology 36 (2): 176-184 - get paper here
  • Göcmen, B.; Franzen, M.; Yilidz, M.Z.; Akman, B. & Yalcinkaya, D. 2009. New locality records of eremial snake species in southeastern Turkey (Ophidia: Colubridae, Elapidae, Typhlopidae, Leptotyphlopidae). Salamandra 45 (2): 110-114 - get paper here
  • Gruber, U. 2009. Die Schlangen Europas, 2. Aufl. Kosmos Naturführer, 266 pp.
  • Hedges, S.B., Marion, A.B., Lipp, K.M., Marin, J. & Vidal, N. 2014. A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata). Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1–61 - get paper here
  • MURAI, MOHAMMAD N.; ZUHAIR S. AMR & MOHAMMAD M. ABU BAKER. 2023. First record of the blindsnake Letheobia episcopus (Franzen & Wallach, 2002) from the Syria Arab Republic. Herpetology Notes 16: 37–39. - get paper here
  • Murai, Mohammad Naser; Zuhair S. Amr, and Mohammad M. Abu Baker 2023. First country record of the blindsnake Letheobia episcopus (Franzen & Wallach, 2002) from the Syria Arab Republic. Herpetology Notes 16: 37-39
  • Sindaco, R.; Alberto Venchi & Cristina Grieco 2013. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an Update to Volume 1. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 543 pp. - get paper here
  • Venchi, Alberto and Roberto Sindaco 2006. Annotated checklist of the reptiles of the Mediterranean countries, with keys to species identification. Part 2 -Snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale "G. Doria", Genova, XCVIII: 259-364
  • 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
  • Yıldız MZ. 2020. Herpetofauna of Kilis Province (Southeast Anatolia, Turkey). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(2) [General Section]: 145–156 (e242) - get paper here
 
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