NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Gracile blind-snake
Letheobia gracilis (Sternfeld, 1910)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Letheobia gracilis, also known as the gracile blind snake or Urungu beaked snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. It is endemic to Africa and is known from northern Zambia, western Tanzania, and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Wikipedia contributors, Letheobia gracilis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:40:00.962324+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Letheobia gracilis (Sternfeld, 1910)
- Name authority
- (Sternfeld, 1910)
- Common name
- Gracile blind-snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Typhlopidae
- Genus
- Letheobia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderScolecophidia Cope, 1864
- familyTyphlopidae
- genusLetheobia
- speciesLetheobia gracilis (Sternfeld, 1910)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Letheobia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Swahili gracile blind-snakeLetheobia swahilica (Broadley & Wallach, 2007) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Letheobia newtoni (Bocage, 1890) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eritrean Blind SnakeLetheobia erythraea (Scortecci, 1929) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sternfeld's Beaked SnakeLetheobia graueri (Sternfeld, 1912) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Uluguri Worm SnakeLetheobia uluguruensis (Barbour & Loveridge, 1928) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ethiopian Blind SnakeLetheobia somalica (Boulenger, 1895) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Katanga Beaked SnakeLetheobia kibarae (de Witte, 1953) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Letheobia acutirostrata (Andersson, 1916) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| De Witte’s gracile blind-snakeLetheobia wittei (Roux-Estève, 1974) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pemba gracile blind-snakeLetheobia pembana Broadley & Wallach, 2007 | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Stejneger's Beaked SnakeLetheobia stejnegeri (Loveridge, 1931) | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Largen’s (gracile) blind-snakeLetheobia largeni Broadley & Wallach, 2007 | TyphlopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Typhlops gracilis Sternfeld, 1910 Sternfeld, 1910 | synonym |
| Typhlops katangensis Witte, 1933 Witte, 1933 | synonym |
| Typhlops leptosoma Witte, 1933 Witte, 1933 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Letheobia&species=gracilis Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6PQKX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.