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Pseudalsophis dorsalis (STEINDACHNER, 1876)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Alsophiini, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymDromicus chamissonis var. dorsalis STEINDACHNER 1876: 306
Dromicus chamissonis var. Habelii STEINDACHNER 1876: 306
Dromicus dorsalis — VAN DENBURGH 1912: 341
Dromicus dorsalis dorsalis — MERTENS 1960: 137
Alsophis biserialis dorsalis — THOMAS 1997: 32
Alsophis dorsalis dorsalis — SWASH & STILL 2000
Pseudalsophis dorsalis — ZAHER et al. 2009
Pseudalsophis dorsalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 595 
DistributionEcuador: Galapagos Islands (Baltra, Bartólome, Rábida, Santiago, Santa Cruz, Santa Fé).

Type locality: “Galapagos-Inseln” [= Galapagos Islands]. Restricted to Santa Cruz Island fide R.A. Thomas (1997: 36).  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesSyntypes: NMW 25168.1–2 
DiagnosisDiagnosis [dorsalis]: Scale-pits present; scales in 19 rows; gastrosteges 213 to 236; urosteges 95 to 119, usually some unpaired; postoculars two, rarely one; temporals usually 1+2 or 1+1; usually striped, sometimes spotted (on Barrington and Indefatigable) [from VAN DENBURGH 1912]. 
Comment 
EtymologyNamed after Latin dorsalis, pertaining to a dorsum or back. [“...Eine dunkle röthlichbraune Binde beginnt am hinteren Rande der Occipitalia, erstreckt sich jedoch nur über die ersten 13—14 Querschuppenreihen des Rumpfes, worauf eine kurze Reihe schräge gestellter Flecken folgt, deren Zahl circa drei bis sechs beträgt...“]. (from Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., May 2024) 
References
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Günther, A. 1860. On a new snake from the Galapagos islands. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 6: 78-79 - get paper here
  • Heller, Edmund 1901. Papers from the Hopkins Stanford Galapagos Expedition, 1898-1899. WIV. Reptiles. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 14: 39-98 - get paper here
  • Mertens, Robert 1960. Über die Schlangen der Galapagos Inseln. Senckenbergiana Biologica 41 (3/4): 133-141
  • Ortiz-Catedral, Luis; Eli Christian, Michael J. A. Skirrow, Danny Rueda, Christian Sevilla, Kumar Kirtana, Enzo MR Reyes, Jennifer C. Daltry 2019. Diet of six species of Galapagos terrestrial snakes (Pseudalsophis spp.) inferred from fecal samples. Herpetology Notes 12: 701-704 - get paper here
  • Steindachner, F. 1876. Die Schlangen und Eidechsen der Galapagos-Inseln. Festschr. zool.-bot. Ges., Wien 1876: 303-329 - get paper here
  • Swash, A. & Still, R. 2000. Birds, Mammals and Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands. Pica Press, 168 pp.
  • Thomas, Robert A 1997. Galapagos terrestrial snakes: biogeography and systematics. Herpetological Natural History 5 (1): 19-40
  • Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D. 2019. Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich portal, with a dynamic checklist and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1): [General Section]: 209–229 (e178) - get paper here
  • Van Denburgh, John 1912. Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos Islands, 1905-1906. IV. The snakes of the Galapagos Islands. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 1: 323-374 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Zaher, Hussam; Grazziotin, Felipe Gobbi; Cadle, John E.; Murphy, Robert W.; Moura-Leite, Julio Cesar de; Bonatto, Sandro L 2009. Molecular phylogeny of advanced snakes (Serpentes, Caenophidia) with an emphasis on South American Xenodontines: a revised classification and descriptions of new taxa. Pap. Avulsos Zool. (São Paulo) 49 (11): 115-153 - get paper here
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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