''Letheobia somalica'', also known as the highland beaked snake or Ethiopian blind snake, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of
snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...
in the family
Typhlopidae
The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing stru ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...
.
[
]
Geographic range
It appears to be endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to Ethiopia.[
]
Description
Body pale olive; head yellowish. The type specimen is in total length. Scales arranged in 24 rows around the body.
Snout very prominent, obtusely pointed, with a sharp horizontal cutting edge, below which are located the nostrils. Head shields granulated. Rostral very large. Portion of rostral visible from above slightly longer than broad; portion visible from below as long as broad. Nasal completely divided, the nasal cleft proceeding from the second upper labial. Preocular nearly as large as the ocular, in contact with the second and third upper labials. Ocular in contact with the third and fourth upper labials. Eyes not distinguishable. Prefrontal and supraoculars transversely enlarged. Diameter of body 90 times in total length. Tail slightly broader than long, ending in a small spine.[ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III.'' Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I.-XXV. (''Typhlops somalicus'', p. 589 Addenda and Corrigenda" for Volume I., p. 52.]
References
Further reading
* Boulenger, G.A. 1895. An Account of the Reptiles and Batrachians collected by Dr. A. Donaldson Smith in Western Somali-land and the Galla Country. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Volume 1895, pp. 530–540, Plates XXIX. & XXX. (''Typhlops somalicus'', p. 536, Plate XXX., Figure 1.)
Letheobia
Snakes of Africa
Reptiles of Ethiopia
Endemic fauna of Ethiopia
Reptiles described in 1895
Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger
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