Letheobia mbeerensis Malonza, Bauer & Ngwava, 2016, sp. nov.

<i>Letheobia mbeerensis</i> sp. nov. <p>Mbeere Gracile Blind-snake (Figs. 2–4)</p> <p> <b>Holotype.</b> NMK S 2927, adult; Kenya, Embu County, Siakago-Mbeere (00o 35 ’S; 0 37o 38’E; 1221 m); collected on 29 April 2014, by a local farmer (name unknown). Live specimen given to Jacob M. Ngwava, curator at the Nairobi Snake Park, who forwarded it to Patrick K. Malonza at the Herpetology Section, National Museums of Kenya.</p> <p> <b>Description of the holotype.</b> NMK S2927; Specimen in generally good condition. Snout rounded in dorsal profile, lateral profile bluntly rounded with an angular horizontal edge ventrally; rostral broad, ca. 0.6 head width at interocular level, truncated posteriorly; frontal very broad, crescentic, as wide as rostral and 1.5 times as broad as supraocular with relatively broad contact of nasals; supraocular broad, transverse, its lateral apex between nasal and ocular; nasal semidivided; nasal suture strongly bowed, arising from second supralabial and extending 3/4 of the distance to the rostral; nostril rounded, inferior; ocular similar in size to supraocular and half the size of preocular, ventrolateral apex between preocular and ocular [no subocular present]; eye barely visible as a tiny black dot in the anterior margin of preocular scale (Fig. 2), preocular twice as large as ocular; 4 supralabials, third supralabial twice the size of first and second, fourth supralabial twice the size of third; supralabial imbrication pattern T-0 (no supralabial overlap of superior head shields; Wallach 1993). The absence of a subocular, is a difference between the new species and several other <i>Letheobia</i>. Again the scale pattern is very different from that of morphologically similar <i>L. lumbriciformis.</i> Body slender, total length/mid-body diameter ratio (L/D) ratio = 62.2; head slightly narrower than forebody; tail long (2.9% TL), ending in a rounded tip, lacking an apical spine; total length (TL) = 280.0 mm; Tail length (TAL) = 8.0 mm; mid-body diameter (MBD) = 4.5 mm; mid-body scale rows (MSR) = 20; middorsals (MD) = 670; subcaudals (SC) = 20; dorsocaudals (DC) = 23.</p> <p> <b>Coloration.</b> In preservative, red-brown on the head and fore body, posteriorly pale brown (Fig. 3). In life pink, dorsal scales with a faint speckling of brown at distal margins (Fig. 4).</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet <i>mbeerensis</i> refers to the species’ greater type locality.</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis.</b> The new species is assignable to the genus <i>Letheobia</i> on the basis of possessing the combination of characters:laterally rounded snout, gracile or worm-like body form, eyes not or barely visible, reduced to faint spots, and pinkish coloration (Pyron & Wallach 2014). Within <i>Letheobia</i>, <i>L. mbeerensis</i> may be distinguished by the following features: rostral broad, ocular shield reduced, 20 scale rows around the body along its entire length, 670 middorsal scales, tail long (for genus) 2.9% of total length, 20 subcaudal scales. The large number of subcaudal scales separates <i>L. mbeerensis</i> from all its congeners, among which <i>L. lumbriciformis</i>, with 17, has the next highest count. In addition, the new species is easily separated from several of its East African congeners by its lower number of midbody scale rows (20) <i>versus</i> 22 or more scale rows in <i>L. gracilis</i> (Sternfeld) (22–24), <i>L. graueri</i> (Sternfeld) (24), <i>L. jubana</i> Broadley & Wallach (24), <i>L. largeni</i> Broadley & Wallach (22), <i>L. pallida</i> Cope (22–24), <i>L. pembana</i> Broadley & Wallach (24), <i>L. somalica</i> (Boulenger) (24–30), <i>L. sudanensis</i> (Schmidt) (24– 27), <i>L. swahilica</i> Broadley & Wallach (22), and <i>L. toritensis</i> Broadley & Wallach (22–24). Several East African species formerly assigned to <i>Letheobia</i> (e.g., Broadley & Wallach 2007a) but now placed in <i>Rhinotyphlops</i> (<i>R. ataeniata</i>, <i>R. scorteccii</i> (Gans & Laurent 1965), <i>R. unitaeniatus</i>; see Hedges <i>et al</i> (2014) may also be distinguished by their greater number of mid-body scale rows (23–26). <i>Letheobia mbeerensis</i> may also be distinguished from most of its East African congeners by its high number of middorsal scales (670) <i>versus</i> lower numbers in <i>L. erythraea</i> (Scortecci) (443–462), <i>L. graueri</i> (454–622), <i>L. jubana</i> (391–435), <i>L. largeni</i> (432), <i>L. pallida</i> (418– 429), <i>L. pembana</i> (353), <i>L. swahilica</i> (376–396), <i>L. toritensis</i> (427–487), and <i>L. uluguruensis</i> (Barbour & Loveridge) (379–416) as well as <i>Rhinotyphlops ataeniata</i> (443–531), <i>R. scorteccii</i> (311–405), and <i>R. unitaeniata</i> (467–586).</p> <p> <i>Letheobia mbeerensis</i> is most similar to <i>L. lumbriciformis</i>, with which it shares similar body proportion (mean of 62.0 body diameters in total body length in <i>L. lumbriciformis</i> and 62.2 in the holotype of <i>L. mbeerensis</i>). However <i>L. lumbriciformis</i> has 18 midbody scale rows (versus 20 in <i>L. mbeerensis</i>). The new species may further be distinguished from <i>L. lumbriciformis</i> by having 670 middorsal scales (<i>versus</i> 465–607), a longer tail (2.9% of TL <i>versus</i> 1.3–1.7%; 20 <i>versus</i> 11–17 subcaudals), and eyes minute but visible (<i>versus</i> not visible).</p> <p> <b>Distribution, habitat and conservation status.</b> The holotype of <i>Letheobia mbeerensis</i> was unearthed by a local farmer while tilling his farm. It is currently known only from its type locality in Siakago which lies within an area of high agricultural potential. This area is characterized by deciduous vegetation with most of the land now under cultivation. This is more than 500 km from the nearest records of the superficially similar <i>L. lumbriciformis</i>, at the Kenyan coast (Broadley & Wallach 2007a). It is unclear whether the species can tolerate human disturbance as is the case with some other blind snakes. Until such time as more information about the actual distributional range of this snake becomes available it must be considered Data Deficient, a status that applies to many typhlopids in general (Measey & Branch 2014).</p>Published as part of <i>Malonza, Patrick K., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ngwava, Jacob M., 2016, A new species of Letheobia (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from central Kenya, pp. 143-150 in Zootaxa 4093 (1)</i> on pages 145-146, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4093.1.10, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/263240">http://zenodo.org/record/263240</a&gt

A new species of Letheobia (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from central Kenya

Malonza, Patrick K., Bauer, Aaron M., Ngwava, Jacob M. (2016): A new species of Letheobia (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from central Kenya. Zootaxa 4093 (1): 143-150, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4093.1.1

FIGURE 1 in A new species of Letheobia (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from central Kenya

FIGURE 1. Map of Kenya showing the type locality of Letheobia mbeerensis, (pentagon). The position of Mt. Kenya is indicated for reference

Amphibian Diversity in Shimba Hills National Reserve, Kenya: A Comprehensive List of Specimens and Species

We present the first annotated amphibian checklist of Shimba Hills National Reserve (SHNR). The list comprises of 30 currently known amphibians (28 anurans and two caecilians), which includes 11 families and 15 genera. In addition, individual records per species, distribution in the reserve and brief remarks about the species are presented. The checklist is based on information from museum collections, field guides, unpublished reports and newly collected field data. We are able to confirm the presence of two Eastern Afromontane species in the SHNR: Scolecomorphus cf. vittatus and Callulina cf. kreffti. The latter has not been recorded since the original collection of a single specimen over 50 years ago. SHNR contains the highest number of amphibian species of any known locality in Kenya (about 30% of the country’s total number); therefore it is of national conservation importance. Finally, we briefly discuss the biogeography of the SHNR and its connections to nearby biogeographic regions.Keywords: coastal forests, checklist, zoogeography, amphibians, Shimba Hill

The status of flora and fauna in the Nzoia River drainage basin in western Kenya

The species richness of flora and fauna in the Nzoia River drainage basin is documented through a study of museum specimens,  catalogues and databases. The catchment area and basin covers 2.2% (12900/580367 km2) of Kenya’s total land area with an altitudinal range of 1140 to 4300 m and varied ecosystem and land uses. We recorded approximately 9.3% (3239/34677) of Kenya’s current known species of vascular plants, invertebrates (insects and spiders), fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Bird species made up the highest proportion 58.3% (650/1114) of the national total followed by amphibians 37.3% (41/110), reptiles 45.0% (86/191), mammals 31.3% (122/390), vascular plants 17.9% (1251/7000), fish 6.7% (58/872) (32.2% (58/180) for freshwater fish only) and invertebrates (insects and spiders) 4.1% (1031/25000). Ninety-five species recorded in this area are endemic to Kenya and 42 globally threatened. The species recorded contribute to several ecosystem services including pest control, pollination, bio-indicators, medicine and cosmetics, building materials, ecotourism, research and education. Data available differed substantially across counties and taxon groups with gaps apparent in five counties (Bungoma, Busia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Siaya and Usain Gishu) and four taxa plants, invertebrates, fungi and bacteria where a dearth of information exists. To fill these gaps we recommend prioritisng future survey effort on taxa and counties with fewer than 10% of the total numbers of records