A review of East and Central African species of Letheobia Cope, revived from the synonymy of Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, with descriptions of five new species (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) Author Wallach, Van text Zootaxa 2007 1515 31 68 journal article 10.5281/zenodo.177278 44e92dc8-7d91-43bd-900b-36f28549b744 1175-5326 177278 Letheobia pallida Cope ( Fig 4 A) Pallid gracile blind-snake Letheobia pallida Cope 1869 , Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 322. Type locality: Zanzibar [ Island , Tanzania ], collected by C. Cooke, lectotype MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. 504), designated herein; Barbour & Loveridge 1929 : 295; Malnate 1971 : 370. Typhlops pallidus – Boulenger 1893 : 54 , 1915b: 616 (part); Tornier 1896 : 66 ; Sternfeld 1908: 242, 1910: 12; Loveridge 1916 : 82 , 1924: 4 (part), 1936: 227; Werner 1921 : 330 ; Moreau & Pakenham 1941 : 108 (part); Loveridge 1957 : 244 (part); Pitman 1974 : 64 (part); Broadley & Howell 1991 : 21 (part). Rhinotyphlops pallidus – Roux-Estève 1974 : 217 , Fig. 151, 1975: 445 (part); Hahn 1980 : 32 ; Meirte 1992 : 20 , Fig. 35; Broadley & Broadley 1996 : 45 (part); McDiarmid et al. 1999: 83 (part); Spawls et al. 2002 : 295 (part); Spawls et al. 2006 : 92 (part). Description. Snout rounded, prominent. Rostral very broad, truncated posteriorly; frontal crescentic; supraocular transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular, the latter separated from the lip by a large subocular; eye not visible; nasal suture arising from second labial; SIP X (N1, P, O, O); scale rows 24-22-22; MD 418– 433; vertebrae 274; MD/V ratio 1.54–1.58; L/D ratio 53–62. Colourless. Size. Largest specimen (MCZ 5723 – Zanzibar Island) 192 mm in total length. Habitat. Coastal mosaic. One of the types was taken from a well ( Cope 1869 ). Distribution. Endemic to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania ( Fig 10 ). Localities. Zanzibar Island ( Pakenham, 1983 ) ANSP 3300 ( paralectotype ); BMNH 68.2.29.135, 1950.1.5.34; MCZ 5723 ( lectotype ). Comment. C. Cooke collected the two syntypes from Zanzibar , East Africa: ANSP 3300 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 411) & MCZ 5723 (ex-Essex Inst. no. 504). Barbour & Loveridge (1929: 295) cited MCZ 5723 as the “ holotype and genotype”whereas Malnate (1971: 370) cited ANSP 3300 as a “ syntype ,” noting that Cope’s Essex Institute specimen (no. 504) was the presumed MCZ “ holotype ” listed by Barbour & Loveridge. In support of this the MCZ Reptile Catalogue reads “from a well” in the remarks column; the specimen was received from the Peabody Museum, which incorporated the Essex Institute, in 1886. However, in Cope’s description (1869: 322) he states that the ANSP specimen he described was “presented by C. Cooke to the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. (Mus. 504)” and that “it was taken from a well.” His measurement of the specimen was 160 mm ; the MCZ specimen measures 196 mm in length. We have examined both specimens: ANSP 3300 bears an old tag reading 411 and measures 158 mm in length. We hereby designate the larger and better preserved specimen at the MCZ (5723) as the lectotype .