. Bonner zoologische Monographien. Zoology. 107 : The preserved specimen of Rhinotyphlops graueri from Uganda (ZFMK ) - scale bar = 1 cm localities in the Democratic Republic of Congo lay in the rainforest of the Congo Basin, 300 km west of the Lake Tanganyika shore. Our specimen was found about 500 km north of the previous northernmost record of Rhinotyphlops graueri. The Semuliki National Park is a relatively small area along the river Semuliki within the Ituri forest, belonging to the Congo basin. The fauna and flora of this area consists predominantly of species typical for the
. Bonner zoologische Monographien. Zoology. 107 : The preserved specimen of Rhinotyphlops graueri from Uganda (ZFMK ) - scale bar = 1 cm localities in the Democratic Republic of Congo lay in the rainforest of the Congo Basin, 300 km west of the Lake Tanganyika shore. Our specimen was found about 500 km north of the previous northernmost record of Rhinotyphlops graueri. The Semuliki National Park is a relatively small area along the river Semuliki within the Ituri forest, belonging to the Congo basin. The fauna and flora of this area consists predominantly of species typical for the Congo basin, with some East African elements. There is no obvious geographical or ecological border between the previously known localities and our new record. Loveridge (1937) and Laurent (1954) published lists of forest snakes from the area around the "Great Lakes". Both works were commented on by Hughes (1983) in his attempt to summarize the African snake fauna. According to all above-mentioned papers Rhinotyphlops graueri belongs to the species which are restricted to forests. Blind snakes are generally secretive snakes adapted to a fossorial life, usually found on the surface after rains and/or floods. This is the main reason why there are rather limited numbers of specimens in museum collections. This report extends the distribution range of Grauer's Blind Snake, Rhinotyphlops graueri, ca. 500 km northward and represents the first record of this species north of the equator. Additionally, this finding adds a further species to the checklist of Ugandan herpetofauna. It can be expected that the distribution of this species extends along the "Great Lakes" (Tanganyika, Kivu and Edward) in tropical equatorial Africa, being confined to lowland rainforests. Acknowledgements We are deeply indebted to Kibale & Semuliki Development Project, Fort Portal, and Semuliki National Park for the opportunity of field work in western Uganda, and to all staf
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