Myriopholis braccianii SCORTECCI, 1929
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Myriopholis braccianii
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Leptotyphlopinae, Myriopholini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Scortecci’s Blind Snake |
| Synonym | Glauconia cairi — FLOWER 1900: 968 (part.) Glauconia braccianii SCORTECCI 1929: 294 Glauconia variabilis SCORTECCI 1929: 295 Glauconia variabilis SCORTECCI 1929: 67 Glauconia fiechteri SCORTECCI 1929: 266 (part.) Leptotyphlops fiechteri — PARKER 1932: 219 Leptotyphlops braccianii — PARKER 1949: 21 Leptotyphlops variabilis — PARKER 1949: 21 Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus — HAHN 1978: 482 Leptotyphlops longicaudus — HAHN 1980: 19 (part.) Leptotyphlops braccianii — BROADLEY & WALLACH 2007: 26 Myriopholis braccianii — ADALSTEINSSON, BRANCH, TRAPE, VITT & HEDGES 2009 Leptotyphlops braccianii — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 427 Myriopholis braccianii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 463 Myriopholis braccianii — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 373 |
| Distribution | Eritrea, S Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS), S/S Ethiopia, S Somalia, Kenya (south to the Tana River), elevation 100-1900 m. Type locality: Adi Ugri, Eritrea (14°53’N, 38°49’E, 1900 m elevation). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MSNM 3351 (Milano, formerly MSNM 1917), collected by G. F. Turati; Scortecci, 1930: 199. Paratype: MSNM (Milano) [variabilis] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Close to Leptotyphlops cairi, distinguished by its low number of middorsal scales (277–305 vs 322–370), occipitals usually fused (usually separate in L. cairi), small size (largest 144 mm in total length, whereas L. cairi attains a length of 253 mm). Skull with a large frontoparietal foramen like L. cairi. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Description. Body cylindrical, with head broadened and flattened, distinct from neck, the moderate tail tapers to a small downturned terminal spine. Snout rounded, rostral moderate (0.30–0.40 head width, mean = 0.36), much wider than nasals and extending back to level of eyes, with distinct preoral groove ventrally. Behind rostral, upper lip bordered by infranasal (nostril nearer rostral than supralabial along nasal suture), small anterior supralabial that is less than half as tall as the infranasal with width along lip 1.5 times that of inranasal, large ocular with small eyespot near upper anterior edge, and moderate posterior supralabial. Supraoculars about as long as wide, anteriorly wedged between upper nasal and ocular, posteriorly wedged between the subequal hexagonal frontal and post- frontal, which are smaller than the interparietal and interoccipital. Parietals transverse, subequal in size to the fused occipitals (which are sometimes not fused), in contact with the posterior supralabials. Temporal single. No mental, five infralabials. Body covered with 14 rows of smooth, imbricate, subequal scales, reducing to 10 rows on the tail. Total middorsals 277–305; subcaudals 28–33. Total length/tail ratio 10.7–13.7; total length/diameter ratio 63–111. Middorsal five to eleven (usually seven) scale rows brown to pale brown or tan, venter pale yellow, cream or white. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Size. Largest specimens (LIVM 1997.118.1 — Gambela, Ethiopia) 131 + 13 = 144 mm and (MZUF 2585 — Belet Uen, Somalia) 133.5 + 10.5 = 144 mm. (Broadley & Wallach 2007) Original description: Scortecci 1929: 294 [bracciani] Original description: Scortecci 1929: 295 [variabilis] |
| Comment | Habitat: The type came from Afromontane vegetation in northern Eritrea. Others were from Sahel Acacia wooded grassland in Eritrea and the Upper Nile basin. In the Sudan, Sudanian woodland with abundant Isoberlinia in Equatoria Province, undifferentiated woodland in Darfur Province and western Ethiopia and in Acacia-Commiphora deciduous bushland and thicket in southern Ethiopia. |
| Etymology | Named after Luigi Bracciani, an Italian explorer who was on the Corni-Calciati-Bracciani expedition to Eritrea (1922-1923), where he collected the holotype. |
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