Leptotyphlops parkeri, Broadley, 1999

Published, First, 2007, A revision of the genus Leptotyphlops in northeastern Africa and southwestern Arabia (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae), Zootaxa 1408, pp. 1-78 : 49

Leptotyphlops parkeri species group

Leptotyphlops parkeri ( based on female holotype, BMNH 1949.2.3.47)

Posterior tip of sternohyoideus muscle 14.7%, overlapping heart by 0.10 sternohyoideus-heart gap, heart 4.3% (MP = 15.5%), snout-heart interval 17.7%, heart-liver gap 8.3%, liver lobes multipartite, right liver 44.0% (MP = 48.0%) with 55 segments, left liver 37.3% (MP = 46.0%) with 40 segments, anterior liver extension 0.03, posterior liver tail 0.12, left liver = 0.85 right liver, liver-gall bladder gap 0.7%, gall bladder 1.3% (MP = 71.3%) caudad of juxtasplenic body (1.7%), both organs laterally overlapped by pancreas (1.7%), right ovary 4.0% (MP = 80.7%) with one vitellogenic ovum (5.5 x 1.5 mm) and 3 nonvitellogenic follicles, right adrenal MP = 82.2%, left ovary and adrenal missing, kidneys smooth but creased with single renal artery, right kidney 4.3% (MP = 90.5%), left kidney 4.3% (MP = 90.2%), kidney overlap complete (1.17), kidney-vent interval 11.7%, kidney-vent gap 7.7%, rectal caecum 2.0%, arrowhead-shaped and 3 times the diameter of adjacent small intestine that curls around and enters caecum caudally (rather than ventrally), caecum-vent interval 6.7%.

Respiratory system lacking tracheal lung and left lung complex, trachea 16.3% (MP = 9.5%) with an estimated 140 tracheal rings or 87.5 rings/10% SVL, anterior lung tip 16.0%, tracheal entry terminal, cardiac lung 1.7%, right lung 28.3% (MP = 31.8%) extremely narrow (equal in width to bronchus) with faveolar cranial half and trabecular caudal half, posterior tip 46.0%, bronchus 23.0%, posterior tip of bronchus 40.7%, bronchus = 0.81 right lung, trachea-bronchus 39.3% (MP = 21.0%), total lung 30.0% (MP = 31.0%).

Reproduction. The holotype (SVL 150 mm, MBD 2.6 mm) with one developing egg (5.5 x 1.5 mm) and 3 folicles in right ovary (left ovary unknown).