Colubridae Oppel, 1811

Calixto, Pedro de Oliveira & Abrahão Morato, Sérgio Augusto, 2017, Herpetofauna recorded by a fauna rescue program in a Caatinga area of João Câmara, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Check List 13 (5), pp. 647-657 : 653

Family Colubridae Oppel, 1811

Apostolepis cearensis Gomes, 1915 : Figure 19 Apostolepis cearensis Gomes 1915: 122 — Ferrarezzi 1993: 234; Ferra-

rezzi et al. 1996: 55; Lema 2002; Ferrarezi et al. 2005: 45; Wallach

et al. 2014: 50; Guedes et al. 2014b: 3863. Apostolepis flavotorquata — Amaral 1930: 109; Peters and Orejas-

Miranda 1970: 22.

This species may be distinguished from other assimilis group species ( A. assimilis and A. ammodites ) by snout-rostral shape which is strongly prominent and pointed, white nuchal collar absent, ventral and subcaudal scales 215–248 and 23–32, respectively (Ferrarezi et al. 2005). This snake is fossorial and species of the Amphisbaenidae family are one of its food items ( Amorim et al. 2015). Individuals of this species also exhibit the behaviour of using the tip of the tail as defense when handled (POC pers. obs.). This behaviour has been observed for congeners (Martins and Oliveira, 1993). The vouchers of individuals are UFRN 4126 and 4127.