Typhlops calabresii Gans & Laurent

Broadley, Donald G. & Wallach, Van, 2009, 2255, Zootaxa 2255, pp. 1-100 : 25

Typhlops calabresii Gans & Laurent

( Fig. 3B)

Calabresi’s blind-snake

Typhlops cuneirostris (part, not Peters) Boulenger, 1896c: 10, 1896d: 20, 1897b: 279 (part), 1898b: 132, 1898c: 720, 1915c: 642 (part); Werner, 1921: 306 (part); Schmidt, 1923: 32 (part); Calabresi, 1927: 50 (part); Parker, 1949: 25 (part); Roux-Estève, 1974: 153 (part), fig. 106; Largen, 1978: 51 (part), fig. 3; Hahn, 1980: 55 (part); Lanza, 1983: 219 (part), 1990: 430 (part); Meirte, 1992: 22, 23 (part); Largen & Rasmussen, 1993: 322; Wallach, 1998a: 182 (part), 1998b: 370 (part); Mattison, 1999: 147 (part); McDiarmid et al., 1999: 98 (part); Spawls et al., 2002: 284, fig., 2006: 88, fig.; Murphy, 2003: 552 (part).

Typhlops cuneirostris calabresii Gans & Laurent, 1965 , Ann. Mus. Roy. Afr. Cen., Zool., (134): 54, pl. 6. Type locality: “ 56 miles from Hargeisa, on Berbera road, Northern Territory, Somali Republic ” [= 56 mi. NE Hargesia, Somalia], holotype MCZ 74465, collected by C.F. Hemming, December 1961; Hahn, 1977: 38, 1980: 55; Largen, 1978: 51; Largen & Rasmussen, 1993: 322.

Typhlops cuneirostris — Roux-Estève, 1974: 153, figs. 8, 13.25 & 106.

Typhlops cuneirostris calabresi — Roux-Estève, 1974: 153.

Description. Snout prominent, wedge-shaped in lateral view, tip rounded; eye-snout length/interocular head width greater than 0.85, ventral rostral length/interocular head width less than 0.47. Rostral narrow and elongate, broad anteriorly but tapering posteriorly; frontal subtriangular, the nasals sometimes meeting at a point in front of it; supraocular oblique, its lateral apex between preocular and ocular; eye distinct, under the ocular; nasal suture arising from near sulcus between first and second labials; SIP T-V-P+O (N2, N2/P, P/O, O); MSR 22; MD 257–302 (mean 276.2, n = 41); vertebrae 130–153 (mean 142.5, n = 35); MD/V ratio 1.86–2.01 (mean 1.94, n = 35); L/D ratio 18–37 (mean 27.3, n = 41). Red-brown above, the pigment concentrated on the bases and lateral edges of the scales, forming dark lines, white below. Largest specimen (BMNH 1949.2.1.24—Haud, Somalia) has a total length of 189 mm.

Distribution. Northwestern Somalia, adjacent parts of Ethiopia, and dry regions of eastern Kenya, 200– 1065 m ( Fig. 11).

Localities. ETHIOPIA. Dolo BMNH 1896.5.30.8 (2). SOMALIA. No precise locality NHCL 1985–86; Burao BMNH 1949.2.1.12; Goolis Mts. BMNH 1898.5.21.26 (paratype of Typhlops cuneirostris calabresii Gans & Laurent ); 90 km NE of Hargeisa MCZ 74465 (holotype of Typhlops cuneirostris calabresiii Gans & Laurent ); Haud, on Somali/Ethiopia border between 45°00’ E and 46°30' E. BMNH 1949.2.1.13–27, 1949.2.1.29–43; MCZ 51294–95 (paratypes of Typhlops cuneirostris calabresiii Gans & Laurent ); Las Anod BMNH 1958.1.6.21 (paratype of Typhlops cuneirostris calabresiii Gans & Laurent ); Lugh BMNH 1898.1.28.12; Web River, nr. Ganana River confluence ( Boulenger, 1896d). KENYA. El Wak ( Spawls, 1978); 20 km NE Kibwezi CAS-SU 165538; Mandera CAS 131682; NMZB 7916; Wajir CAS 131687.

Viscera. See Tables 8 and 10–12 for comparison of visceral differences between Typhlops calabresii and T. cuneirostris .