Mitophis Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch

Adalsteinsson, Solny A., Branch, William R., Trape, Sébastien, Vitt, Laurie J. & Hedges, S. Blair, 2009, Molecular phylogeny, classification, and biogeography of snakes of the Family Leptotyphlopidae (Reptilia, Squamata), Zootaxa 2244, pp. 1-50 : 22

Genus Mitophis Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch , New Genus

Type species. Leptotyphlops pyrites Thomas, 1965

Diagnosis. Species of Mitophis have 14 (rarely 16) midbody scale rows, 12 midtail scale rows, 262–414 middorsal scale rows, 14–22 subcaudals, four (3–4 in M. leptepileptus ) supralabials, moderate anterior supralabials, 143–205 mm maximum adult total length, a body shape of 43–94 (total length/width), a relative tail length of 3.8–5.0 %, a tail shape of 2.3–4.3, no striped pattern (except M. pyrites ), a pale brown or unpigmented dorsum, and a brown or unpigmented venter (Table 2). They are distinguished from the other genus in this subtribe, Tetracheilostoma , by having a high number of middorsal scales (262–414 versus 170– 192), thinner body (43–94 versus 31–54), and a pale brown or unpigmented dorsum (not dark brown). The support for this group was 100% BP and 100% PP for the four-gene tree ( Fig. 3) and 100% BP and 100% PP for the nine-gene tree ( Fig. 4).

Content. Four species ( Table 1; Fig. 7).

Distribution. Mitophis is distributed on the Greater Antillean island of Hispaniola, including the countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti ( Fig. 8).

Etymology. The generic name is masculine and derived from the Greek nouns mitos (thread) and ophis (snake).

Remarks. Three described species of Mitophis were included in the molecular phylogenetic analyses plus one undescribed species from the Dominican Republic. None of the species is sympatric. Four of the five species in the genus are each only known from essentially a single locality and the fifth ( M. pyrites ) is known from several localities in a small area. Even at known localities, it is often difficult to locate individuals. The reason for their unusually sparse distribution and apparent rarity is unknown. Suitable microhabitats have been searched elsewhere on the island, without success, and therefore it is not for lack of search effort. Also, the habitats occupied by these species vary widely, from some of the most xeric habitats known on the island (e.g., localities of M. asbolepis and M. pyrites ) to one of the more mesic areas (locality of M. calypso ), and from below sea level (undescribed species) to 350–370 m in elevation ( M. asbolepis and M. leptepileptus ). A single specimen of M. leptepileptus , which is the only species of Mitophis known to have three supralabials, was reported to have four supralabials on each side ( Thomas et al. 1985).