Apostolepis quirogai GIRAUDO & SCROCCHI, 1998
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Apostolepis quirogai
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Misiones Blackhead Portuguese: Cabeça-Preta-de-Rabo-Preto |
| Synonym | Apostolepis quirogai GIRAUDO & SCROCCHI 1998: 470 Apostolepis quirogai — DE LEMA 2002 Apostolepis quirogai — BERNILS et al. 2007 Apostolepis quirogai — WALLACH et al. 2014: 53 Apostolepis quirogai — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Argentina (Misiones), Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul [HR 32: 277]) Type locality: Posadas, Misiones Province: Departamento Capital, Argentina. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: FML 0600, adult female (Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina); Paratype: FML 06001, an adult male. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Apostolepis quirogai may be distinguished from its congeners by (1) the highest number of ventrals known in the genus: male, 269; female, 276 (the highest numbers known until now were for assimilis, male, 236-267; female, 246- 270; A. dorbignyi: females, 266 and A. tenvis: males and females, 245-265); (2) the exclusive coloration pattern with dorsal reddish brown with broad lateral black stripes and thin vertebral line, black head with large white blotches on snout (without blotches in ambiniger, dimidiata, intermedia, niceforoi, polylepis, and vittata) and white nuchal ring two to three scales long, posteriorly edged by black ring, one and a half to two scales long (no nuchal rings in ambiniger, dimidiata, goiasensis, intermedia, lineata, polylepis, and vittata; vestigial nuchal white ring in pymi and quinquelineata; white ring and black band longer in arenaria, assimilis, and cearensis; white ring shorter and no black band in tenuis); A. assimilis, A. dimidiata, and A veration pe the side related spacies incol black bands and the dorsal coloration is uniform red (reddish brown with broad black lateral stripe in quirogai), A. dimidiata has no white blotches on snout nor nuchal white rings bordered by black posteriorly and the dorsal coloration is red (white blotches on snout and broad white nuchal rings and reddish brown dorsal coloration in quirogai), A. tenuis has a broader vertebral stripe, a shorter white ring, and has no black band posterior to the white ring (very fine vertebral stripe and a broad white nuchal ring bordered by black posteriorly in quirogai); (3) nasal clearly separated from preocular by prefrontal (contact in ambiniger, borelli, flavotorquata, lineata, longicaudata, niceforor, nigroterminata, pymi, quinquelineata, rondoni, and vittata); (4) six supralabials (five in goiasensis and vittata), sixth separated from parietal by (0 + 1) temporal (generally 0 + 0 temporals in ambiniger, arenaria, borelli, dimidiata, dorbignyi, gaboi, goiasensis, intermedia, lineata, longicaudata, nigroterminata, polylepis, quinquelineata, and tenuis, although this character varies intraspecifically (Ferrarezzi, 1993a); (5) tail tip pointed (rounded in dimidiata, goiasensis, intermedia, lineata, polylepis, and vittata) and black (white in dorbignyi, longicaudata, niceforoi, and rondoni). (Giraudo & Scrocchi 1998) Additional details (6275 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | This species may belong to the A. assimilis species group (see FERRAREZZI et al. 2005). Abundance: very rare; only known from about 10 specimens (Entiauspe-Neto et al. 2025). Distribution: For a map of localities see Entiauspe-Neto et al. 2025: 8 (Fig. 3). |
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