''Letheobia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of blind snakes in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Typhlopidae The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing str ...

. Wallach, Van (2005) "''Letheobia pauwelsi'', a new species of blindsnake from Gabon (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)." ''African Journal of Herpetology'' 54 (1): 85-91.

Geographic range

The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Taxonomy

In 1869, the genus ''Letheobia'' was established by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested ...

based primarily on two specimens of '' Letheobia pallida'' from

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, but later also including ''Letheobia caeca'' (originally ''Onychocephalus cæcus'' Duméril, 1856) from

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural ...

, in 1874 when describing ''Onychocephalus lumbriciformis'' from Zanzibar and in 1878 ''Typhlops unitaeniatus'' from Kenya, considered ''Letheobia'' to be a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

. Nonetheless, in 1881, Peters selected ''Letheobia caeca'' Duméril as the type species for the genus. In 1883,

Boulenger Boulenger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Benjamin Boulenger (born 1990), French footballer * Edward George Boulenger (1888–1946), British zoologist, director of aquarium at London Zoo * George Albert Boulenger (1858–1 ...

decided that at best ''Letheobia'' was a subgenus of ''Typhlops'', and placed it as a junior synonym. Later in reconstructing ''Rhinotyphlops'' in 1974, Roux-Estève moved all of ''Letheobia'' species into ''Rhinotyphlops'', mostly into her Groups IV, V and VI. However, molecular studies in the 2000s showed that ''Rhinotyphlops'', as conceived by Roux-Estève (1974), was polyphyletic, and that many if not all of Groups V and VI constituted a separate genus, for which the name ''Letheobia'' had priority. In 2007 Broadley and

Wallach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

formally revived the genus ''Letheobia''. In 2013, Pyron et al. considered with some certainty that ''Letheobia'' was a sister group to the combined genera ''Afrotyphlops'' and ''Megatyphlops'', while the three were then sister to ''Rhinotyphlops'', and the four were the sister to ''Typhlops''.

Species

The genus ''Letheobia'' contains the following 37 species which are recognized as being valid. *'' Letheobia angeli'' *'' Letheobia acutirostrata'' *'' Letheobia akagerae'' *'' Letheobia angeli'' *'' Letheobia caeca'' *'' Letheobia coecatus'' *'' Letheobia crossii'' *'' Letheobia debilis'' *'' Letheobia decorosus'' *'' Letheobia episcopus'' *'' Letheobia erythraea'' *'' Letheobia feae'' *'' Letheobia gracilis'' *''

Letheobia graueri ''Letheobia graueri'', also known as the Lake Tanganyika gracile blind snake, Grauer's gracile blind snake, Sternfeld's beaked snake, Grauer's blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to Middle and East ...

'' *'' Letheobia jubana'' *'' Letheobia kibarae'' *'' Letheobia largeni'' *'' Letheobia leucosticta'' *'' Letheobia lumbriciformis'' *'' Letheobia manni'' *'' Letheobia mbeerensis'' *'' Letheobia newtoni'' *'' Letheobia pallida'' *'' Letheobia pauwelsi'' *'' Letheobia pembana'' *'' Letheobia praeocularis'' *'' Letheobia rufescens'' *'' Letheobia simonii'' *'' Letheobia somalica'' *'' Letheobia stejnegeri'' *'' Letheobia sudanensis'' *'' Letheobia swahilica'' *'' Letheobia toritensis'' *'' Letheobia uluguruensis'' *'' Letheobia weidholzi'' *'' Letheobia wittei'' *'' Letheobia zenkeri'' ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Letheobia''.

Etymology

The specific name, ''pauwelsi'', is in honor of Belgian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...

Olivier Sylvain Gérard Pauwels Olivier is the French form of the given name Oliver. It may refer to: * Olivier (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Olivier (surname), a list of people * Château Olivier, a Bordeaux winery *Olivier, Louisiana, a rural popul ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Letheobia pauwelsi'', p. 202).

Geographic range

Taxonomy

Species

Etymology

References

Further reading