Epictia bakewelli OLIVER, 1937
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Epictia bakewelli
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Epictinae, Epictini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Bakewell’s Blind Snake S: Culebra Lombriz de Bakewell |
| Synonym | Stenostoma albifrons — BCOURT in DUMÉRIL et al. 1882: 505 (part) Glauconia albifrons — BOULENGER 1893: 63 (part) Leptotyphlops albifrons — AMARAL 1930: 138 (part) Leptotyphlops bakewelli OLIVER 1937: 360 Leptotyphlops phenops — KLAUBER 1940: 151 Leptotyphlops phenops bakewelli — SMITH 1943: 445 Leptotyphlops ater bakewelli — DUNN & SAXE 1950: 160 Leptotyphlops gadowi DUELLMAN 1956: 93 Leptotyphlops phenops cf. bakewelli — THOMAS 1965: 9 Leptotyphlops goudotii bakewelli — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970 Stenostoma phenops — SMITH & SMITH 1976 Leptotyphlops goudotii bakewelli — SMITH & SMITH 1976 (part) Leptotyphlops phenops phenops — SMITH & SMITH 1976 (part) Leptotyphlops goudoti — SMITH & SMITH 1976 (part) Leptotyphlops goudoti bakewelli — SMITH & SMITH 1976 (part) Leptotyphlops goudotii — SMITH & SMITH 1976 (part) Leptotyphlops goudotii bakewelli — HAHN 1980 Leptotyphlops goudotii phenops — HAHN 1980 (part.) Leptotyphlops goudotti bakewelli — PÉREZ-HIGAREDA & SMITH 1991: 29 (part) Leptotyphlops gadovi (sic) — WIENS 1993: 414. Leptotyphlops goudotii bakewelli — LINER 1994 Epictia goudotii — ADALSTEINSSON et al. 2009: 7 (part) Epictia goudoti — CONABIO 2012: 52 (part) Epictia goudotii bakewelli — ÇINAR 2012: 121 Epictia bakewelli — WALLACH et al. 2014: 276 Epictia bakewelli — MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2016 |
| Distribution | Mexico (Coastal and foothill regions on Pacific slopes from Colima and Michoacan southward to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, and Oaxaca); Type locality: Paso del Rio, Colima [= Periquillo, Hacienda Paso del Río, Colima, Mexico, 18°54'N, 103°53'W, elevation 30 m]. gadowi: Mexico (Michoacán); type locality: “above Apatzingan,” Michoacán, Mexico. |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: UMMZ 80228; paratypes: FMNH, UMMZ, USNM holotype: BMNH 1946.9.7.55 [gadowi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Epictia bakewelli, along with E. ater, are the two species of this complex to have the rostral fused with the frontal (prefrontal) scale, thus the fused rostral-frontal scale contacts the postfrontal scale. Epictia bakewelli differs most obviously from E. ater in having the underside of head and about the anterior third of the venter distinctly paler brown than the adjacent brown dorsal surfaces (versus ventral surfaces essentially the same color as the dorsal surfaces in E. ater). Epictia bakewelli also differs from E. ater in having distinct dark body stripes (versus those stripes indistinct or absent in E. ater). Epictia bakewelli differs further from two of the three species that have a frontal scale (E. goudotii and E. magnamaculata) in having the underside of head and about anterior third of the venter distinctly paler brown than the adjacent brown dorsal surfaces and the pale tail spot larger ventrally than dorsally (versus those ventral surfaces similar to dorsal surfaces and the pale tail spot larger dorsally than ventrally in E. goudotii and E. magnamaculata). The rare specimen of E. phenops that lacks a frontal scale (3 of 54) can be difficult to distinguish from E. bakewelli [MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2016: 19]. Diagnosis: (1) scale row formula = 14-14-14; (2) midtail scale rows = 10; (3) total length = 117–181 (x– = 146.6) mm; (4) total midodrsals = 245–269 (x– = 253.3); (5) subcaudals = 16–22 (x– = 19.2); (6) relative body pro- portion = 48–62 (x– = 52.9); (7) relative tail length = 5.8%–8.5% (x– = 6.9%); (8) relative tail width = 3.6–4.4 (x– = 4.1); (9) relative rostral width = 0.31–0.37 (x– = 0.34); (10) relative eye size = 0.42–0.44 (x– = 0.43); (10) rostral waisted with a posterior constriction, apex rounded; (11) supralabials 2, moderate anterior supralabial reaching mid-eye level, but not in contact with supraocular; (12) frontal fused with rostral; (13) supraocular blocky, about as broad as deep, with posterior border parallel to that of supranasal; (14) widest anteriormost vertebral scale 2nd; (15) parietals and occipitals subequal, oriented transversely; (16) infralabials 4; (17) cloacal shield semilunate in shape; (18) head brown with a moderate pale spot on upper half of rostral; (19) dorsum with 3 brown middorsal stripes of rectangular-shaped spots separated by 4 broad straight yellow stripes, and a pair of broader brown midlateral stripes separated by a moderate yellow stripe (= 7 dark stripes); (20) venter uniform pale yellow with diffuse brown vermiculations on each scale; (21) midbody stripe formula (3 + 2/2 + 0), and middorsal pattern (3D + 4L); (22) tail with a pale terminal spot covering the 0–4 (x– = 2.9) dorsocaudals and 3–13 (x– = 8.9) subcaudals (ventral/dorsal ratio 3.1); and (23) apical spine a tiny horizontal spike (Wallach 2016: 233). |
| Comment | Synonymy: mostly after WALLACH 2016: 232 (see also for more extensive chresonymy and references). KLUGE 1984 listed Leptotyphlops bakewelli OLIVER 1937 as a synonym of L. goudotii phenops. Distribution: see map in MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2016: Fig. 4; Wallach 2016: 236 (Map 2). Wallach states that there is no vouchered specimen from Jalisco though. |
| Etymology | This species was named in honor of one of its collectors, Anderson Bakewell, who accompanied James A. Oliver on a herpetological collecting expedition to Colima, Mexico, from June to August 1935. |
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