Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus ( Esqueda, Natera, La Marca & Ilija-Fistar 2007 )

Ascenso, Alexandre C., Costa, João C. L. & Prudente, Ana L. C., 2019, Taxonomic revision of the Erythrolamprus reginae species group, with description of a new species from Guiana Shield (Serpentes: Xenodontinae), Zootaxa 4586 (1), pp. 65-97 : 76-78

Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus ( Esqueda, Natera, La Marca & Ilija-Fistar 2007)

Figures 3E , 4C , 5B , 6 E–F

Liophis reginae— Dixon 1983a; Ann. Carnegie. Mus . 52:3 (part.).

Liophis dorsocorallinus Esqueda, Natera, La Marca & Ilija-Fistar, 2007 ; Herpetotropicos:95. Terrra typica: Andrés Eloy Blanco , El Cantón, Barinas, Venezuela. Holotype: ULABG 6691 .

Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus — Grazziotin et al. 2012; Cladistics 1:21.

Liophis reginae— Wallach et al. 2014; Snakes of the World:395 (part.).

Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus — Natera et al. 2015; Atlas de las serpientes de Venezuela:170.

Liophis dorsocorallinus — Souto et al. 2017; Herpetol. Rev. 48:532.

Holotype. Adult male, ULABG 6691 , collected by L.F. Esqueda on November 0 3, 2004, at El Cantón, municipality of Andrés Eloy Blanco, state of Barinas, Venezuela (specimen photographs examined, Fig. 4C ).

Paratypes. Four specimens all from Caparo Reservation, state of Barinas, Venezuela. An adult male, ULABG 5507 , collected by L. F. Esqueda on January 27, 2003 ; ULABG 6718 , adult male, and, ULABG 6719 , an adult female collected by H.P. Reinthaler; ULABG 6629 , a juvenile male, collected by J. Betancourt, on October 26, 2004 .

Diagnosis. Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus is distinguished from all congeners by the combination of the following characteristics: (1) 17 dorsal scale rows with reduction at midbody; (2) apical pit single; (3) ventrals 142–158 in females and 141–158 in males; (4) subcaudals 60–77 in females and 62–80 in males; (5) dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream with distal half of the scales black; (6) upper edges of supralabials with distinctive dark post-orbital stripe; (7) belly creamish-white with black spots with squared or rhomboid shape arranged in a checkered pattern; (8) lateral black spots and dorsal-lateral stripe absent or indistinct; (9) ventral surface of tail creamish-white without black spots; (10) intrasulcal region with elongated spines in a row extending into the medial region of the branches of the sulcus; (11) medial region of hemipenial body on asulcate face ornamented with a row of eight to ten spines; (12) sulcus spermaticus bifurcates at medial region of hemipenial body; and (13) moderate body size (SVL 300–578 mm).

Comparisons. Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus shares a lateral-posterior stripe along the posterior region of the body and tail, and usually a cream belly with black spots of square or rhomboid shape with E. reginae , E. macrosomus , E. zweifeli , and E. oligolepi s, being the only exception for this latter which present the ventral scales ususally without marks. Among all congeners, E. dorsocorallinus differs from E. reginae , E. macrosomus , E. oligolepis , and E. zweifeli by having dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream, with distal half of the scales black (vs. olive green dorsal ground color on anterior third of body gradually changing to grayish-brown, except for E. zweifeli with dorsum yellowish-cream and distal half of scales black). Additionally, E. dorsocorallinus differs from all subspecies of E. epinephelus by having dorsal scales reddish or bluish-cream with apical half black (vs. dorsum of head cream or olive green with thick postorbital stripe, and dorsum of body olive cream, with bands anteriorly). Regarding the sympatric taxa, E. dorsocorallinus differs from E. cobella , E. taeniogaster and E. breviceps by having a cream belly with spots occupying an area lower than a ventral scale (vs. cream belly scattered of complete black bands, usually occupying two ventral scales); from E. miliaris by having dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream with the distal half of the scales colored black (vs. dorsum of head, body and tail yellowish-cream with distal half of scales are colored black and dorsal-lateral stripe absent); from E. typhlus and E. poecilogyrus by having 17 dorsal scale rows in the midbody (vs. 19 dorsal scale rows in the midbody). Differs from from E. taeniurus by having 141–158 ventral scales (vs. 152–181 ventral scales).

Redescription of the holotype. Body cylindrical; SVL 474 mm, CL 165 mm (34.8% of SVL); head length 17.8 mm, width 11.9 mm; diameter of ocular orbit 3.5 mm; rostral triangular, visible in dorsal view; internasals two, wider than long; prefrontals two contacting supraoculars, preocular, loreal, and postnasal; frontal pentagonal, longer than wide; parietals two, longer than wide; supralabials eight, second and third contacting loreal, fourth to fifth contacting eye, and sixth and seventh higher than remaining supralabials; supraoculars longer than wide; nasal in contact with first two supralabials, internasals, prefrontals, loreal, and rostral; loreal tetragonal, contacting second and third supralabials, postnasal, prefrontals, and preocular; preocular contacting supraocular, prefrontal, nasal, third and fourth supralabials; postoculars two, upper postocular higher than lower; temporals 1+2, anterior longer than upper posterior temporal; symphysial triangular; infralabials nine, first pair in broad contact behind symphysial; first five pairs contacting chinshields; smooth dorsal scale rows 17/17/15, reduction at midbody; apical pit single; ventrals 153; subcaudals 71; cloacal plate divided.

Dorsum of head, body and tail cream or bluish-cream with distal half of scales black; anterior region of cephalic shields with cream marks; supralabials cream with upper edges same color as the body; parietal spots on each side of head, contacting eighth supralabial posterior to parietal shields; dorsal-lateral stripe absent or indistinct in posterior third of the body, extending to the end of the tail; ventral region of body, with rectangular spots; tail cream without dots or spots.

Morphometric and meristic variation (n= 21). SVL 300–578 mm (mean= 416.3; SD= 72.5; n= 21) and CL 15–168 mm (mean= 128.5; SD= 38.9; n= 18; 32.1% of SVL); head length 15.1–21.8 mm (mean= 18.6; SD= 1.9; n= 20), height 5.5–9.2 mm (mean= 7.3; SD= 1; n= 18), and width 7.8–12.9 mm (mean= 10.5; SD= 1.2; n= 18); diameter of ocular orbit 3–4 mm (mean= 3.5; SD= 0.3; n= 20); distance between orbit and rostral shield 3.4–5.5 mm (mean= 4.5; SD= 0.5; n= 19); rostral triangular, 2.8–4.3 mm wide (mean= 3.6; SD= 0.4; n= 20), 1.1–2.8 mm high (mean= 2.3; SD= 0.4; n= 20) internasals 1.2–2.3 mm long (mean= 1.6; SD= 0.3; n= 20), 1.5–2.5 mm wide (mean= 2; SD= 0.3; n= 20) prefrontals 1.9–2.9 mm long (mean= 2.3; SD= 0.3; n= 20), 2.2–3.3 mm wide (mean= 2.7; SD= 0.3; n= 20); frontal pentagonal, 4.2–6 mm length (mean= 5; SD= 0.5; n= 20), 2.6–3.8 mm wide (mean= 3.3; SD= 0.3; n= 20); parietals 5.4–7 mm length (mean= 6; SD= 0.5; n= 20), 2.8–3.8 mm wide (mean= 3.5; SD= 0.3; n= 20); loreal tetragonal, 0.9–1.9 mm length (mean= 1.2; SD= 0.2; n= 20), 1.1–2.4 mm high (mean= 1.5; SD= 0.3; n= 20); infralabials 9–10 (mean= 9.8; SD= 0.4; n= 20); infralabials contacting chinshileds 4–5 (mean= 4.7; SD= 0.5; n= 20); anterior chinshields 4.2–5.7 mm long (mean= 4.8; SD= 0.5; n= 18), posterior chinshields 3.7–6.8 mm long (mean= 4.9; SD= 0.6; n= 18); dorsal scale rows 17 with reduction at the level of 74–90 ventrals (n= 21); ventrals 142–158 in females (mean= 149.2; SD= 5.1; n= 11), and 141–158 in males (mean= 148.5; SD= 5.9; n= 10); subcaudals 60–74 in females (mean= 65.1; SD= 3.9; n= 10), and 65–72 in males (mean= 67.4; SD= 2.3; n= 7).

Color pattern in preservative. Dorsum of head, body and tail cream or bluish-cream with distal half of scales black; anterior region of cephalic shields with cream marks; cream parietal spots on either side of head, contacting eighth supralabial posterior to parietal shields; supralabials cream with upper edges of the same color as body; dorsal-lateral stripe absent or indistinct in posterior third of the body, extending to the end of the tail; first two or three rows of dorsals cream; ventral region of body and tail cream with rectangular spots, sharper in anterior edge of ventrals; ventral surface of tail cream with spots and dots usually more concentrated on lateral region of scales ( Fig. 5B ).

Ontogenetic variation of color in preservative. Hatchlings and juveniles with pale nuchar colar (two to three dorsal scales long), and cream dorsum with the half of scales black.

Color in life. Dorsum of head dark grey with reddish-cream marks on anterior region of cephalic shields; gular region and supralabials yellowish-cream; dorsum of head, body and tail yellowish-cream with distal half of scales black; first two dorsal scale rows yellowish-cream; ventral region of body and tail yellowish-cream ( Fig. 6 E–F).

Hemipenial morphology (everted organ n= 5). Body slightly short, spiny, without calyces, and noncapitate. Slightly bilobed with smooth apical disk at surface of lobes. Body covered by spinules homogeneously distributed. Lobes with spinules in lateral region, on asulcate and sulcate face. Sulcus spermaticus bifurcates in medial region of hemipenial body, branches with centrifugal orientation extending to central region of apical disks. Basal region of sulcus with an inflated portion ornamented with elongated spines. Intrasulcal region with elongated spines in a row extending into the medial region of the branches of the sulcus. Proximal region of hemipenial body on asulcate face with bulges on either side, ornamented with elongated spines. Medial region of hemipenial body on asulcate face ornamented with a row of eight to ten spines. Region around intrasulcal spines with an area without ornamentation ( Fig. 3E ).

Geographic distribution. Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus occurs in the Llanos in Venezuela and Colombia, as well as on the southwestern Amazon forest of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia ( Fig. 8 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Sulcate (left) and asulcate (right) views of the hemipenis of Erythrolamprus reginae (RMNH 42042—A), E. oligolepis (MPEG 23979—B), E. macrosomus (CEPB 2125—C), E. zweifeli (AMNH 137302—D), E. dorsocorallinus (UFAC 129—E), and E. rochai (MPEG 25681—F). Scale Bar = 5 mm.

FIGURE 4. Dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views of the topotype of Erythrolamprus macrosomus (MCP 13063; SVL= 557 mm—A), holotype of Leimadophis zweifeli (MBUCV 95; SVL= 447 mm—B), holotype of Liophis dorsocorallinus (ULABG 6691; SVL= 474 mm—C), and holotype of Liophis miliaris intermedius (ZFMK 34243a; SVL= 340 mm—D). Photos by M. Rivera (A), E. La Marca (B), and M. Franzen (D).

FIGURE 5. Dorsal and lateral views of head; dorsal, ventral and lateral views of midbody; and ventral and lateral views of tail of Erythrolamprus zweifeli (AMNH 137302—A), E. dorsocorallinus (MZUSP 7362—B), and E. rochai (MPEG 25680 -C). Scale Bar = 10 mm.

FIGURE 6. General aspect of individuals in life of Erythrolamprus reginae from Trésor reserve, French Guiana (A), E. oligolepis from Maués, Amazonas, Brazil (B); E. macrosomus from San Sebastian de La Selva, Misiones, Argentina (C); E. zweifeli from Parque Nacional Henri Pittier, Rancho Grande, Aragua, Venezuela (D); E. dorsocorallinus from Boca Pariamanu, Peru (E); and E. dorsocorallinus from Barinas, Venezuela (F). Photos by Trésor Foundation (A), P. Peloso (B), J. Chiavo (C), J. Mejías (D), S. de Jong (E), and D. Sandoval (F).

FIGURE 8. Geographic distribution of the Erythrolamprus reginae species group. White symbols for each species represents literature records; red symbols for each species represents the type localities of each species; the other symbols and colors refer to the specimens examined in first hand.