Typhlops brongersmai spec. nov. from the coast of Bahia, Brasil (Serpentes, Typhlopidae)

Abstract

It is a pleasure to name the following species after Dr. L. D. Brongersma, both for his valuable contributions to herpetology, and for his unfailing kindness and courtesy in assisting his colleagues from the underdeveloped countries. Typhlops brongersmai spec. nov. (fig. 1) Holotype. Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de S. Paulo, snake collection, no. 5218, Barra de Itaipe, Ilheus, Bahia, 14 December, 1968, . . Williams and P. . Vanzolini coll. Diagnosis. Inter-nasal suture incomplete; 20 scale rows at midbody; 216 dorsal scales; dorsal pattern of light brown background with rows of darker spots. Head rounded, without deeply incised sutures; snout thick. Body stocky; rostro-anal length 207 mm; tail 7 mm; diameter at midbody 9 mm, thus nearly 24 times in total length. Tail spine small, conical. Dorsal aspect of head: rostral moderate, about one third as wide as the head at eye level, almost perfectly elliptical in dorsal view, reaching the level of the front margin of the ocular. Frontal broad, followed by 4 broadened scales, 2 on the midline, one on each side. Eye well developed, dorsolateral, on the antero-superior corner of a large ocular scale. Preocular and nasal reaching a little behind the level of the posterior end of the rostral. Lateral aspect of head: nostrils lateral. Nasal scale in broad contact with the first and second labials; the internasal suture starts on the upper margin of the second labial, runs through the nostril and ends in a small pit, without reaching the rostral. Three upper labials, the third the largest. Preocular large, with strongly arcuate front margin. Five or six lower labials.