Philodryas pseudomamba DI PIETRO, SÁNCHEZ, POLJAK & ALCALDE, 2026
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Philodryas pseudomamba
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: South American dotted racer |
| Synonym | Philodryas pseudomamba DI PIETRO, SÁNCHEZ, POLJAK & ALCALDE 2026: 108 Dryophilax schottii – DUMÉRIL 1853: 112 (not Schlegel, 1837) Dryophilax schottii – DUMÉRIL et al. 1854: 1118 Philodryas schottii – GÜNTHER 1858: 125 (not Schlegel, 1837) Philodryas schottii – JAN 1863: 83 Philodryas schottii – HENSEL 1868: 332 Philodryas schottii – BOETTGER 1885: 235 Philodryas schottii – BOULENGER 1886: 434 Philodryas schottii – COPE 1895:218 Philodryas schottii – PERACCA 1895: 18 Philodryas schottii – BOULENGER 1896: 130 (in part) Philodryas schottii – KOSLOWSKY 1898: 196 (in part) Philodryas schottii – DEVINCENZI 1925: 46 (in part) Philodryas schottii – ÁBALOS et al. 1964: 264 Pseudophis schottii – COPE 1862: 348 Chlorosoma schottii – AMARAL 1929: 214 (in part) Chlorosoma schottii – AMARAL 1932: 101 Chlorosoma schottii – SERIÉ 1936: 51 (in part) Philodryas patagoniensis – HOGE 1964: 67, in part) Philodryas patagoniensis – PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 244 (in part) Philodryas patagoniensis – THOMAS 1976: 172 (in part) Pseudablabes patagoniensis – MELO-SAMPAIO et al. 2021: 37 Pseudablabes patagoniensis – DUBEUX et al. 2022: 6 |
| Distribution | Argentina (Buenos Aires, Chaco, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Misiones, San Luis, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, and Jujuy), Bolivia, Brazil (Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Sergipe, and Espírito Santo), Paraguay, Uruguay Type locality: Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, San Martin department (28.5333°S, 57.1712°W; elevation 67 m), Corrientes Province, Argentina |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. MLP.R 5449, an adult male; collected by Cátedra de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata between 11 and 15 November 2008. Paratypes (n = 14). Argentina. Chaco Province: MLP. JW 1949 (adult female) from Juan José Castelli, General Güemes department, collected by I. Berkunsky in January 2001; MACN 38710 (adult female) from Resistencia, San Fernando department, collected by C. Schlinger on 19 November 1956. Corrientes Province: MACN 50189 (adult female) from Provincial Road 5 between San Luis del Palmar and Laguna Brava, San Cosme department, collected by B. Cajade and E. Nenda on 30 July 2017; MACN 48195 (adult male) from Yapeyú, San Martín department, collected by Ayudantía Marítima Yapeyú on 6 September 1965. Entre Ríos Province: MACN 48165 (adult female) from the surroundings of La Paz, La Paz department, collected by M. Baldi on 7 November 1975; MACN 48163 (adult female) from Pronunciamiento, Uruguay department, collected on 30 October 1967. Formosa Province: MACN 48134 (adult male) from Bartolomé de Las Casas, Patiño department. Misiones Province: MACN 48166 (adult female) from Posadas, Capital department, collected on 24 April 1966. Santa Fe Province: MLP.R 6445 (adult male) from 4 km NE of Aguará Grande, San Cristóbal department, collected by L. Alcalde, M. J. Cassano and M. B. Semeñiuk on 29 October 2016; MLP.R 6434 (adult male) from Provincial Road 3 in Los Tábanos, Vera department, collected by L. Alcalde, M. J. Cassano and M. B. Semeñiuk on 21 October 2016; MLP.R 6450 (adult female) from Provincial Road 3 near Vera, Vera department, collected by L. Alcalde, M. J. Cassano and M. B. Semeñiuk on 25 October 2016; MLP.R 6455 (adult male) from road cross between Provincial Road 3 and National Road 11 near Vera, Vera department, collected by L. Alcalde, M. J. Cassano and M. B. Semeñiuk on 25 October 2016. Santiago del Estero Province: MACN 4325 (adult male) form Malbrán, Aguirre department, collected by Cazale and Peyrade. — Brazil: São Pablo State: MACN 36703 (adult female) from the surroundings of Ibiúna, Ibiúna municipality, collected by Instituto Butantán in April 1996. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Philodryas pseudomamba sp. nov. differs from all other species of the genus by the following combination of characters: (1) dorsal scale rows 19–19–15, (2) HL/TTL between 2 and 3.4%, (3) SVL/TTL between 68 and 77.7%, (4) TL/TTL between 22.2 and 32%, (5) ventral scales between 166 and 199, (6) subcaudal scales between 81 and 124, (7) loreal scale rectangular, longer than tall, (8) dorsal half of the preocular markedly exceeding the posterior margin of the loreal, (9) supralabials 7 (3,4), (10) lateral border of the supraocular straight in dorsal view, (11) first temporal scale large (height being less than 40% of the length), (12) dorsal scales of the head with completely immaculate olive colouration featuring tiny black scale margins, (13) dorsal body design dotted, not maculated, and (14) ventral scales lacking lateral black spots. (Di Pietro et al. 2026) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about about 3.56 pages) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Distribution: for a map of localities see Di Pietro et al. 2026: 95 (Fig. 1), presumably the gray circles (but not explicitly stated). |
| Etymology | Named after Greek pseudo, meaning “falseness” or “falsehood”. Mamba refers to the term “imamba” used in the Bantú language (spoken by various African ethnic groups) to designate snakes of the genus Dendroaspis, commonly known in English and other languages as “mambas”. The species name was explicitly inspired by D. polylepis (the black mamba), due to the general physical resemblance and notably aggressive behaviour shared by both species. |
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