Letheobia pauwelsi, a new species of blindsnake from Gabon (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)

Abstract

A new species of African blindsnake related to western Letheobia caecus and eastern L. acutirostratus is described from Gabon. It differs from both species in having an hourglass dorsal rostral shape, a ventrally angled corneal cutting edge, and a unicameral right lung. Externally it resembles L. caecus but differs in lacking rostral papillae, lacking a longitudinally enlarged frontal, lacking extended supranasals, and having the inferior nasal suture contacting the first supralabial. From L. acutirostratus it differs in having 22 midbody scale rows, a transversely elongated frontal, and frontal‐supranasal contact. Internally it differs significantly from both species in nearly all of the visceral organ proportions.