A new species of burrowing snake (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Apostolepis) from the state of Mato Grosso, Central-West region of Brazil

By

Dos Santos, Fernanda Martins
Entiauspe-Neto, Omar Machado
Araújo, Jailini Da Silva
De Souza, Moisés Barbosa
Lema, Thales de
Strüssmann, Christine
De Albuquerque, Nelson Rufino

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018-6-7

Original Publication

MycoKeys

Volume

35

Pages

1--10

Subjects

Biodiversity , Cerrado , Chapada dos Guimaraes , Elapomorphini , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2011-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.35.e26742

 

Abstract

During a faunal rescue conducted at a hydroelectric power station constructed in a Cerrado savanna area in the state of Mato Grosso, a sample of five small stripe-patterned individuals of snakes of the genusApostolepisCope, 1862 document the existence of an undescribed species, which is named herein. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of scale counts, number of maxillary teeth and color pattern. The new species is most similar toApostolepisborelliiPeracca, 1904,A.lineataCope, 1887,A.nelsonjorgeiLema & Renner, 2004,A.nigroterminataBoulenger, 1896,A.serranaLema & Renner, 2006 andA.underwoodiLema & Campbell, 2017 in its coloration pattern. However, it is distinguished from these species by having a pair of triangular blotches covering portions of the third to sixth supralabials, a white nuchal collar, the shape of the fourth supralabial and the shape of the tip of tail, the number of supralabials in contact with parietals, the size of the anterior chinshields, the color pattern of the paraventral side, parietal and terminal scales, the width of dorsal stripes, and a distinct number of subcaudals. The new species occurs in areas within the Cerrado biome.