Leptotyphlops burii (Boulenger)

Leptotyphlops burii (Boulenger) ( Plate 7 View PLATE 7 , Fig. 3)

Bury's Worm Snake

Glauconia burii Boulenger, 1905 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 16: 178. Type locality: El Kubar   GoogleMaps [= Khawbar], Upper Hushabi, Yemen ( 13°48’N, 44°45’E, elevation 1350 m), holotype BMNH 1946.1 .16.56 (formerly BMNH 1903.3.6.48), collected by G.W. Bury.

Leptotyphlops burii — Corkill & Cochrane, 1966: 496; Hahn, 1980: 9; Leviton & Aldrich, 1984: xxiv; Arnold, 1987: 252; Gasperetti, 1988: 203, fig. 17; Schätti & Gasperetti, 1994: 383; McDiarmid et al., 1999: 24; Schätti & Desvoignes, 1999: 77.

Leptotyphlops buri — Hahn, 1978: 485, fig. 6.

Leptotyphlops blanfordi nursi — Hahn, 1978: 486 (part), fig. 8.

Leptotyphlops nursii — Gasperetti, 1988: 201 (part).

Diagnosis. Closely related to Leptotyphlops nursii , but distinguished by its larger rostral (0.62–0.68 head width, mean = 0.66) and frontal (twice the size of supraoculars) shields, occipitals never enlarged, and higher middorsal count (403–408 vs 281–378).

Description. See Gasperetti (1988). Twelve scale rows on the tail; middorsals 403–408; subcaudals 28– 33; total length/diameter ratio 61–69; total length/tail length ratio 13.8–14.4. Middorsal seven scale rows pigmented light brown or tan, ventral seven rows paler, unpigmented.

Size. Largest ( holotype) 205 mm in total length.

Distribution. Highlands of southwestern Yemen, 1350–1460 m ( Plate 5 View PLATE 5 ).

Localities. YEMEN. ad-Dali ( Dhala) BMNH 1937.11.1.9–10 (where sympatric with Leptotyphlops nursii ); Khawbar ( holotype) .