Letheobia toritensis Wallach, 2007, sp. nov.

Letheobia toritensis sp. nov.

(Fig 4 C)

Torit gracile blind-snake

Typhlops pallidus – (not Cope) Loveridge 1956: 6.

Rhinotyphlops pallidus – (not Cope) Roux-Estève 1974: 217 (part).

Holotype. MCZ 53324, a female from Torit, Equatoria Province, Sudan (04°27'N, 32°31'E, elevation 625 m), collected by J. S. Owen, 19 June 1950.

Paratypes. MCZ 53325-29, 16045-48; FMNH; MCZ 53332 Lokwi, 40 km south of Torit, collected 23 November 1950.

Diagnosis. A member of the Letheobia pallida complex, but differing in its greater length (maximum length 270 mm vs 192 mm in L. pallida) and more slender build (length/diameter ratio 62–82 vs 49–62 in L. pallida and L. swahilica); blunt snout, with a broader, subrectangular rostral; frontal transversely enlarged; more numerous middorsals (427–487 vs 376–433) and vertebrae (280–303 vs 235–274). There are also differences in visceral arrangement (Table 4).

Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal subhexagonal; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular, the latter separated from the labials by a large subocular; eye not visible; nasal sulcus arising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, O O); scale rows 26-22-22 (or 24-22-22, 26-22-20, rarely 26-24-22; MD 473 (427–487); vertebrae 297 (280–303); MD/V ratio 1.59 (1.49–1.64); L/D ratio 62–90. Colourless.

Etymology. Named for Torit, the type locality.

Size. Largest specimen (Loveridge 1956) 267.5 mm in total length.

Habitat. Gallery forest. Found 30 cm below the surface and ”dug from rich humus among the buttress roots of a dozen great trees along the [Kineti] river” (Loveridge 1955).

Distribution. Southern Sudan (Equatoria Province), 625–1200 m (Figs. 10, 11 & 13).