Arcanumophis problematicus, Smaga & Ttito & Catenazzi, 2019

Smaga, Christopher R., Ttito, Alex & Catenazzi, Alessandro, 2019, Arcanumophis, a new genus and generic allocation for Erythrolamprus problematicus (Myers 1986), Xenodontinae (Colubridae) from the Cordillera de Carabaya, southern Peru, Zootaxa 4671 (1), pp. 129-138 : 132-133

Arcanumophis problematicus new combination

( Figs. 2–4 )

Holotype. adult male, total length 275mm, tail length 51mm, tail 18% of total length, FMNH 64733 collected between 22 November–20 December of 1950 by Hilda Hempl Heller at 1520 m, near San Juan del Oro, about 30 km ENE of the town of Sandia , Province of Sandia , Department of Puno, on the west bank of the Río Tambopata (approximated coordinates 14.21667°S, 69.16667°W).

Referred specimen. adult female, total length 210mm, tail length 40mm, tail 19% of total length, CORBIDI 18731 collected near the abandoned mine of Santo Domingo at 1960 m a.s.l. (13.83202°S, 69.63705°W; GPS coordinates, WGS84), Province of Carabaya, Department of Puno on 8 June 2016 by A. Catenazzi, A. Ttito and J. C. Jahuanchi.

Description of CORBIDI 18731 ( Fig. 4 ). Small, slender snake with a slender head and no distinct neck, head narrowing at snout; pupil rounded, eyes’ diameter almost as long as eye-nostril distance; rostral crescent shaped and twice as wide as high, visible from above, wider in the center, with a horizontal crease at lower 2/3 of the rostral scale, extending all the way across, curving with the shape of the scale; loreal present, as long as wide; eight supralabials, 2 nd contacting loreal; 3 rd– 5 th contacting eye; eight infralabials, 1 st– 4 th contacting anterior genial, 4 th– 5 th contacting posterior genial; two internasals, roughly trapezoidal, wider posteriorly and narrowing toward the rostral; frontal roughly pentagonal, twice as long as wide and twice as long as prefrontals; supraocular kidney shaped, slightly shorter than frontal, narrowing anteriorly; parietals paired, slightly longer than frontal and one-and-a-half times as long as wide; nasal twice as long as high, contacting 1 st and 2 nd supralabial; one preocular two-and-a-half times as high as long, longer dorsally and shortening toward supralabials; two postoculars, upper postocular dis- tinctly larger than lower; temporals 1+2; anterior temporal large, two-and-a-half times as long as high, in contact with 6 th and 7 th supralabials; two upper posterior temporals three times as long as lower posterior temporal; four genials; anterior pair twice as long as wide; posterior pair three time as long as wide; dorsal scales smooth, 19/17/17; ventrals 137, anal plate divided; subcaudals 39 pairs. For details on hemipenial morphology, see Myers (1986).

Coloration patterns ( Figs. 2–4 ): Dorsal color dark brown, fading to a dark olive on flanks; head sides exhibiting two yellowish-white stripes running from rostral through lower margin of eye and ending at mouth corner; two small and cream white circular nape blotches separated from parietal tips by one dorsal scale; a cream, elongated blotch, three times as long as high, present on each side of neck; supralabials 1–3 dark, turning pale at 4–5, and retuning dark at 6–8; infralabials pale with slight black blotching; two paravertebral cream white stripes originating slightly dorsally and posteriorly to cream neck blotch; paravertebral stripes mostly restricted to 6 th dorsal row, descending to 4 th dorsal row near the tail; venter cream white, ventral surface of head slightly darker than body venter. In life, the head and flanks exuded bright yellow stripes ( Fig. 3 ), which faded to white after preservation ( Fig. 2 ). The nuchal spots, which were a less bright yellow than the stripes, retained similar coloration after preservative, with only a slight loss of yellow.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Full body of Arcanumophis problematicus CORBIDI 18731 showing dorsal and ventral coloration patterns (pre- served specimen). Photographs by A. Catenazzi.

FIGURE 3. Coloration in life of Arcanumophis problematicus (CORBIDI 18731) from Santo Domingo, Department of Puno, Peru. Photographs by A. Catenazzi.

FIGURE 4. Head of Arcanumophis problematicus (CORBIDI 18731), showing horizontal crease on rostrum. Photographs by A. Catenazzi.