Typhlops proancylops 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 proancylops

description: Typhlops proancylops new species (Fig. 3 B)
Holotype: KU 272267, an adult male, collected at Soliette, 5 km airline NW Fond Verettes, 363 m, Dépt. du Sud­Est, Haiti, on 13 July 1979 by Haitian collectors.
Paratypes: Haiti. Dépt. du Sud­Est: KU 272262–268, 272269–278, same data as the holotype; RT 5609– 13, same locality as holotype, 12 July 1978, Haitian collectors; 5664–671, same locality as the holotype, 23 July 1978, Haitian collectors; USNM 564801–802, 24 October 1984, Haitian collectors. Dépt. de l’Ouest: KU 269813, ca. 10 km by road W Pétionville, N versant, Morne l’Hôpital, 818 m, 1 March 1966, R. Thomas; KU 269814, KU 269899, ca. 7 km airline W Pétionville, N versant of Morne l’Hôpital, 606 m, 1 March 1966, R. Thomas. Dominican Republic. Independencia Prov.: KU 272525, 5 km W Puerto Escondido, 30 June 1969, R. K. Bobilin; USNM 564803, Rabo de Gato (ca. 3 km S Puerto Escondido), 383 m, 23 March 2004, S. B. Hedges.
Associated specimens (all from Haiti): Dépt. de l’Ouest: KU269825, 2.4 km S Trouin; RT 5301, 2.9 km S Découzé, 424 m; RT 7476, Vendal, 1.4 km N Découzé, 363 m (Coq Chanté); ASFS V45526 –527, V45546, 5.0 km. S Béloc; ASFS V46092, 1.2 km N Découzé. Dépt. du Sud­Est: RT 7575, ca. 5 km airline SW Blockhaus, 393 m.
Diagnosis: A large, 20­scale­row species of Typhlops, having no posterior reduction. This species was previously included within T. hectus (Thomas, 1974) and the major comparison is with that species (Table 1). Typhlops proancylops is allopatric with T. hectus and differs from that species in having a narrower rostral that is widest more anteriorly than in T. hectus and which tapers towards the tip, in contrast to the clavate rostral of T. hectus that widens towards the tip (Figs. 3, 6 A). It has a larger, broader anterior projection of the preocular that is not smoothly rounded but has two angles near the apex, in contrast to T. hectus, which has, on the average, a more acuminate apex (Fig.3). The posterior nasal­preocular suture has an angled deflection, rather than a continuously curved suture as in T. hectus. The suture between the preocular and the 3rd infralabial is relatively long in comparison to T. hectus (Fig. 6 B). The edges of the posterior nasals flanking the rostral tend to be straight or very slightly divergent, whereas those of T. hectus are more bowed out. Also, T. proancylops is more heavily pigmented, with pigment in the facial region on the preoculars, posterior nasals, and rostral, in contrast to the pale­snouted T. hectus (excepting the Morne Salagnac snakes referred to above). The hemipenes of T. proancylops are distinctive in being trumpet­shaped and capitate with a fleshy rim around the apex; no other West Indian species is known to have this morphology (Thomas, 1976). Other species of West Indian Typhops have trumpet­shaped organs that are flat apically (Thomas, 1976); in one species, T. rostellatus Stejneger, the organ is domed or rounded apically, but none have a comparable rim.
Description: Rostral narrow in dorsal aspect (RW1/RL1 0.37–0.50), varying from somewhat hastate (with widest part anterior to the middle) to a narrow oval (widest point about the middle), always tapering to a relatively narrow tip; labial flare 0.64–0.80. Preocular angle 42–61o, with a non­acuminate apex with breaks interrupting its curvature (apical diameter 0.4–0.71 mm; lower portion of preocular contacting only the 3rd of the upper labials. The angled anteriormost point is so pronounced that in a few animals a suture extends partly or all the way to the naris, partly or fully dividing the anterior nasal. Ocular length is approximately 1/2 height, sinuosity 0.23–0.10. The rostronasal pattern is parallel to slightly divergent with the dorsal limb of the posterior nasal typically having a slight bend rather than being smoothly curved, the bend being often most visible in the glandular edges of the scale papilla; postoculars, two (cycloid). The first parietal is standard, spanning two scale rows, occasionally narrower, spanning slightly more than one scale row. The second parietal is equal in size to first or absent. TL 127–243 mm (= 197, N = 28). (10) TL/TA: males 20–24, females 25–31. TL/MBD 31–46. Middorsal scales 283–312 (= 299, N = 28). Scale rows 20–20. Pigmentation is extensive, including the facial region and the venter; pigmentation on the venter is lighter but pigmented scales extend completely across the venter in the middle part of most specimens with dropping out of pigmented scales occurring on the anterior and posterior venter. Hemipenes are trumpet­shaped with a domed apex having a fleshy rim. The sulcus spermaticus enters the organ medially, spirals posteriorly and laterally for 1/4 turn, proceeding to the distal region.
TABLE 1. A summary of variation in selected characters of Typhlops hectus and associated species of Hispaniolan blindsnakes.
1­A, Typhlops hectus; B, T. proancylops; C, T. agoralionis; D, T. sylleptor; E, T. eperopeus.
Distribution: This species occurs from the proximal Tiburon Peninsula, west to the uplands south of Port au Prince, to the type locality on the Dominican­Haitian border and east into the Dominican Republic, to the region of Puerto Escondido. All are upland localities from around 300 to 600 m. The type locality is where the Rivière Soliette (on one map given as Soleilet) crosses the road from Fond Parisien to Fond Verrettes. It is also the type locality for Leptotyphlops leptepileptus. In the description of that species (Thomas, et al., 1985), it was noted that the site was "tree­lined" and shady compared to the more open cultivation­scrub mosaic of the surrounding limestone hills. However, most of those specimens and all of the topotypes of T. proancylops were collected by Haitian collectors; and we have no way of knowing the exact sites where they were found. In general, this area is more mesic than the scrubbier area a couple of kilometers below Soliette at Plain Thoman. Likewise, the Morne l’Hôpital locality, along Route Boutilliers, is mesic, compared to the lowlands of Port­au­Prince and the Cul­de­Sac Plain, immediately to the north. At the time of collection, in 1966, there was a certain amount of habitation and cultivation above Route Boutilliers and steep slopes below it. The unpaved roadbed itself provided some less exposed, moist sites where the three specimens of Typhlops proancylops were collected by turning rocks. However, Haitian cultivators obtained specimens of Typhlops capitulatus Richmond and Amphisbaena innocens from their fields above the road. The localities to the west near Découzé and Béloc lie in mesic upland areas of coffee cultivation along the road that crosses the Tiburon Peninsula from Carrefour Dufort to Jacmel. The most xeric habitat in which Typhlops proancylops has been found are the localities near Puerto Escondido in the Dominican Republic. These sites lie in the northern foothills of the Sierra de Baoruco, and the habitat was dry gallery forest and xeric woods (Acacia and Bucida).
Etymology: Proancylops is from the Greek pro, before, ancistros, bent, and ops, eye, in reference to the bent or broken outline of the preocular.
The second of the new species occurs on the northern slopes of the Massif de la Hotte in the distal part of the Tiburon peninsula of Haiti. It 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 7-9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.175414