Typhlops sylleptor Thomas & Hedges, 2007, new species
Creators: name: Thomas, Richard
name: Hedges, Blair
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Typhlopidae
Typhlops
Typhlops sylleptor

description: Typhlops sylleptor new species (Fig. 3 D)
Holotype: USNM 564804 (field tag number 192317), collected 8.0 km WSW Baradères, Dépt. de la Grande Anse, Haiti, 420 m, 7 June 1991, by M. Leal and R. Thomas.
Paratypes: USNM 564807, same data as holotype; USNM 564805–806, 5.0 km S Pestel, Dépt. de la Grande Anse, Haiti, 375 m, 24 May 1991, by S. B. Hedges, M. Leal, N. Plummer, and R. Thomas.
Diagnosis: This is a moderate sized 20 scale­row species of Typhlops having no posterior reduction. Typhlops sylleptor is sympatric with T. hectus. It differs from T. hectus in being more blunt­snouted, having smaller eyes, and having a narrowly oval rostral (Fig. 3 D), in contrast to the clavate rostral of T. hectus (Fig. 3 A) that widens towards the tip. A large, broadly rounded anterior projection of the preocular also differentiates it from T. hectus, which has preocular with sharply pointed apex (Fig. 3 A). These differences can be seen also in graphs of RW1/RL1 versus HR (Fig. 6 F), RWP versus RW1/RL1 (Fig. 6 G), and PD versus HR (Fig. 6 H). Typhlops sylleptor is also a shorter tailed species (TL/TA 27–43, males) than either T. hectus or T. proancylops (TL/TA 20–24, males). From T. proancylops (Fig. 3 B), T. sylleptor also differs in having a preocular scale without a bent edge, and a relatively larger preocular angle and smaller preocular diameter (Fig. 6 I). The edges of the posterior nasals flanking the rostral are parallel­sided or slightly divergent in T. sylleptor compared with T. proancylops. From T. agoralionis (Fig. 3 C), T. sylleptor differs in having differently­shaped rostral and preocular scales, a larger, non­overlapping, rostral wide point (0.39–0.47 versus 0.14–0.32), and a wider rostral in relation to rostral length, reflected in graphs of RWP versus RW1/RL1 (Fig. 6 G) and RL1 versus RW1 (Fig. 6 J). Also, pigmentation in T. sylleptor is heavy, with pigment on the facial region extending irregularly across the venter.
Description: Snout relatively short. The rostral is oval, wide at midpoint and tapering to the tip; labial flare 1.0–1.3. PA 51–68o, with a rounded apex (PD 0.29–0.54 mm; lower portion contacting only the 3rd of the upper labials in a relatively short, steeply angled suture. Ocular length approximately 1/2 height, sinuosity 0.16–0.14. Rostronasal pattern parallel. Postoculars two (cycloid). First parietal standard, spanning two scale rows. Second parietal present (absent unilaterally in one) and equal in size to first or slightly narrower. TL 118–214 (= 166) mm, excluding 105 and 107 mm juveniles. TL/TA: males 27–43, female 30. TL/MBD 33–34. Middorsal scales 305–324 (= 313). Scale rows 20–20, no posterior reduction. Coloration medium brown above fading onto venter by lightening and dropping out of scales; all specimens pigmented across the throat, pigment continuing across venter irregularly, becoming less continuous posteriorly; in one specimen the venter is almost completely pigmented on the anterior half of the body. The rostral is largely unpigmented, but the flanking upper wing of the posterior nasal and the preocular are both pigmented.
Distribution: Known only from the karst region between Baradères and Pestel in low but hilly, mesic habitat (375–420 m elevation). It occurs sympatrically with Typhlops hectus. In this karst region we also discovered an undescribed species of Amphisbaena (Thomas and Hedges, in press).
Etymology: From the Greek, sylleptor, meaning a companion, in reference to the other 20­row Typhlops of similar morphology found on the distal part of the Tiburon Peninsula.
The species from the eastern extreme of the La Selle­Baoruco massif, in the Dominican Republic, may be known as
description: Published as part of Thomas, Richard & Hedges, Blair, 2007, Eleven new species of snakes of the genus Typhlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from Hispaniola and Cuba, pp. 1-26 in Zootaxa 1400 on pages 10-12, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.175414