Drymarchon caudomaculatus WÜSTER, YRAUSQUIN & MIJARES-URRUTIA, 2001
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Drymarchon caudomaculatus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Drymarchon caudomaculatus WÜSTER, YRAUSQUIN & MIJARES-URRUTIA 2001 Drymarchon caudomaculatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 244 |
| Distribution | Venezuela (Falcón), Colombia [Mendoza & Lutero 2009, HR 40 (4)] Type locality: On the road to Los Tablones, 1 km from the junction with the new Coro-Churuguara road, Municipio Colina, Estado Falcón, Venezuela. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: EBRG 3412 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Drymarchon caudomaculatus is easily distinguishable from the other two taxa of Drymarchon found on the South American mainland (see Table 2). In their colour pattern, adults of Drymarchon caudomaculatus differ from D. c. corais in lacking any obvious change of hue along the dorsal side of the body, in having the anterior part of the venter more or less covered with dark pigment, in having scattered paler scales on the posterior body, and in having isolated dark subcaudals under an otherwise pale tail. Additionally, D. caudomaculatus has consistently lower subcaudal scale counts than any of the D. c. corais examined in this study or listed by Amaral (1929) (65 or fewer, vs. 66 or more inD. c. corais). In most specimens of D. c. corais, the dorsal scale row reductions are situated in a more posterior position and the caudal scale row positions in a more anterior position than in the new species. Almost all adult specimens of D. c. corais show a conspicuous change in body coloration along the dorsum, being dark anteriorly and pale posteriorly. This is contrary to the key to the subspecies of Drymarchon corais in Peters & Orejas Miranda (1970), which erroneously states D. c. corais to be uniformly black above. The extent of melanization in this form is in fact very variable (pers. obs.; compare photographs in Moonen et al. (1979) and Murphy (1997)). Finally, D. c. corais also lacks dark pigmentation of the throat area, and we have not seen specimens with isolated paler scales on the body. The colour pattern of adult D. caudomaculatus differs from that of adult D. c. melanurus in lacking any obvious change of hue along the dorsal side of the body (posterior body and tail conspicuously darker in D.c. melanurus), in having the anterior part of the venter more or less covered with dark pigment (anterior part pale, posterior part dark in D. c. melanurus), in having scattered paler scales on the posterior body and isolated dark subcaudals under an otherwise pale tail (subcaudal surface uniformly dark in D. c. melanurus), in lacking the distinct black, oblique bars found on the side of the neck in D. c. melanurus, and in lacking distinct black supralabial edges. In its scalation, D. caudomaculatus displays consistently lower subcaudal scale counts (65 or fewer) than any D. c. melanurus examined in this study or by Amaral (1929) or Smith (1941) (71 or more). However, McCranie (1980) listed subcaudal scale counts as low as 59 for D. c. melanurus, without indicating the origin of the specimens concerned. The caudal scale row reductions are generally in a more anterior position in D. c. melanurus than in D. caudomaculatus. Drymarchon caudomaculatus is easily distinguished from the remaining taxa of Drymarchon, which are not found on the South American mainland. Drymarchon couperi is uniformly blackish-blue above as an adult, and the antepenultimate supralabial is excluded from contact with the postoculars or temporals by a contact between the two adjoining labials below the eye. Drymarchon corais unicolor lacks the dark throat, has a darker posterior venter, 70 or more subcaudals, and often over 200 ventrals. Adult D. c. rubidus are black dorsally, lack a dark throat, have a dark posterior belly, black-edged supralabials, and more subcaudals (69 or more) than D. caudomaculatus. Adult D. c. orizabensis are black dorsally, all but the anterior third of the venter is black, and they have higher subcaudal counts (71-78). Adult D. c. erebennus are blackish above posteriorly, spotted anteriorly, and have dark diagonal markings on the sides of the neck. Additionally, this subspecies usually has 14 dorsal scale rows anterior to the vent. (Wüster et al. 2001) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after the term caudomaculatus, referring to the spotted aspect of the tail of adult specimens. |
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