REMARKABLE NEW WORM SNAKE (SERPENTES, LEPTOTYPHLOPIDAE) FROM THE EAST-AFRICAN COAST

A new species of Leptotyphlops is described on the basis of seven spec imens from coastal Kenya and Tanzania. Leptotyphlops macrops is distin guished from all other species in the genus by the combination of a ve ry large eye beneath a dome in the ocular shield and the presence of a unipartite testis. Leptotyphlops macrops is provisionally included in the L. longicaudus group and seems to be most closely related to L. e mini, which on the basis of its paired parietal bones is a valid speci es rather than a synonym of L. nigricans (List, 1966). The known speci mens of L. macrops were all associated with patches of coastal forest.