Epictia tenella (KLAUBER, 1939)
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Epictia tenella
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Epictinae, Epictini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Guyana Threadsnake, Guyana Blind Snake, Wagler's Blind Snake Portuguese: Cobra-Cega-da-Guiana |
| Synonym | Stenostoma albifrons — JAN 1861: 187–188 (part) Stenostoma albifrons — JAN 1863: 15 (part) Stenostoma albifrons — 1864: 34 (part) Stenostoma albifrons — COPE 1862: 350, 1875: 128 (part) Stenostoma albifrons — COPE 1887: 63 (part) Typhlops reticulatus — MÜLLER 1878: 588 Stenostoma albifrons — GARMAN 1887: 278 (part.) Glauconia albifrons — BOETTGER 1891: 347 Glauconia albifrons — BOETTGER 1892: 103 Glauconia albifrons — BOULENGER 1893: 63 (part.) Glauconia albifrons — BOULENGER 1896: 591 (part.) Leptotyphlops albifrons — PERRACA 1904: 7 Leptotyphlops albifrons — STEJNEGER 1905: 335 Glauconia albifrons — BARBOUR & COLE 1906: 150 (part.) Leptotyphlops albifrons — AMARAL 1925: 3 (part), Leptotyphlops albifrons — AMARAL 1929 (part.) Leptotyphlops tenella KLAUBER 1939: 59 Leptotyphlops albifrons — BEEBE 1946: 12 Leptotyphlops tenella — BARBOUR & LOVERIDGE 1946: 143 Leptotyphlops tenella — BEEBE 1952: 175 Leptotyphlops albifrons albifrons — ROZE 1952: 156 Leptotyphlops albifrons tenella — ROZE 1952: 155 Leptotyphlops albifrons tenella — ROZE 1952: 143 Leptotyphlops tenella — UNDERWOOD 1953: 175 (lower photo) Leptotyphlops albifrons ssp. — ROZE 1957: 181 Leptotyphlops albifrons albifrons — PETERS 1960a: 526 (part) Leptotyphlops albifrons albifrons — ROZE 1970: 68 Leptotyphlops tenella — PETERS et al., 1970: 167 Leptotyphlops sp. — MERTENS 1972: 12 Leptotyphlops goudotii goudotii — BOOS 1975: 22 Leptotyphlops goudotii goudotii MACLEAN et al., 1977: 43ff Leptotyphlops goudotii — EMSLEY 1977: 2, 34 Leptotyphlops tenella — HOOGMOED, 1977: 114. Leptotyphlops tenellus — SCHMIDT 1977: 169–170, figs. 2, 3 Leptotyphlops tenellus — HAHN 1980: 27; Leptotyphlops albifrons tenella — HAHN 1980: 27 Leptotyphlops tenella — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980 Leptotyphlops albifrons — HOOGMOED & GRUBER 1983: 339 Leptotyphlops tenellus — HAHN 1980 Leptotyphlops tenella — STARACE 1998: 81 Leptotyphlops tenella — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 621 Leptotyphlops albifrons — MCDIARMID et al. 1999: 19 Leptotyphlops albifrons tenella — MCDIARMID et al., 1999: 20 Leptotyphlops goudotii — MCDIARMID et al. 1999: 30–31 Leptotyphlops goudotii — BOOS 2001: 41. Leptotyphlops albifrons — BOOS 2001 Leptotyphlops albifrons tenella — CLAESSEN 2002: 57 Leptotyphlops macrolepis — BERNARDE & ABE 2006: 105, 110. Stenostoma albifrons — KRETZSCHMAR 2006: 45, 47 Leptotyphlops tenella — DALTRY 2007 Leptotyphlops tenellus — FRANCO & PINTO 2009 (nom. subst.) Epictia albifrons — ADALSTEINSSON et al. 2009: 31 Epictia tenella — ADALSTEINSSON et al. 2009: 10 Epictia tenela (sic) — SILVEIRA-BÉRNILS & COSTA 2012: 12. Stenostoma albifrons — HOSER 2012: 34 (part) Epictia (Leptotyphlops) tenella — NIELSEN et al., 2013: 144. Epictia albifrons — WALLACH et al. 2014: 279 Epictia tenella — WALLACH et al. 2014: 279 Epictia albiforns (sic) — MUMAW et al., 2015: 432. Epictia fallax — MUMAW et al., 2015: 294ff, map 59 Epictia albifrons — MUMAW et al. 2015: 291 E. albifrons/E. tenella — MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2016: 4. Epictia tenella — WALLACH 2016: 328 |
| Distribution | Lesser Antilles (maybe introduced, known only from one record in Antigua), Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Trinidad, SE Venezuela (Cojedes, Amazonas, Bolívar, Distrito Federal, Monagas, and Sucre), Brazil (Amazonas, Amapá, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima), NE Peru (Cajamarca, Cuzco, Huánuco, Loreto, and San Martín, elevation 150–1,750 m); Colombia (Meta, Vichada) Type locality: Kartabo, British Guiana [= Kartabo, New York Zoological Society Tropical Research Laboratory at junction of Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, Bartica District, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Guyana, 06°23'N, 58°42'W, elevation 50 m]. albifrons: Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago ?, Colombia [Castro,F. (pers. comm.)] Brazil (Para, Rio Grande do Norte), Peru (Pasco: [HR 31: 186]), Argentina (Cordoba), Uruguay, Bolivia; Type locality: “Habitat rarum in adjacentibus urbis Para” [vicinity of Brazil, Belém (01°26'S, 48°29'W)] according to the original description and Vanzolini (1981) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: AMNH 14269. Paratypes (7): GUYANA: CUYUNI-MAZARUNI: Kartabo, collected by C. William Beebe in June of 1919, AMNH 14270; TRINIDAD: TUNAPUNA/PIARICO: Saint George: Mount Saint Benedict, collected by M. Graham Netting on 8 September 1927, CM S-4888; collected by M. Graham Netting on 10 September 1927, CM S-4889; collected by M. Graham Netting on 16 September 1927, CM S-4890, CM S-4892, MCZ R-48774 (exchange of CM S-4891 to MCZ on 8 May 1945), SDSNH 32761 (exchange of CM S-4890 to SDNHM on 31 August 1939); and El Dorado, collected by M. Graham Netting on 19 September 1927, CM S-4893. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: (1) scale row formula = 14-14-14; (2) midtail scale rows = 10; (3) total length 71–215 (x– = 147.3) mm; (4) total midodrsals = 215–233 (x– = 224.5); (5) subcaudals = 13–20 (x– = 17.2); (6) relative body proportion = 37–60 (x– = 48.5); (7) relative tail length = 5.1%–7.8% (x– = 6.4%); (8) relative tail width = 2.8–4.1 (x– = 3.5); (9) relative rostral width = 0.26–0.34 (x– = 0.29); (10) relative eye size = 0.36–0.46 (x– = 0.41); (10) rostral subtriangular with a truncated apex, extending to pre- or mid-eye level; (11) supralabials 2, tall anterior supralabial in contact with supraocular at mid-eye level; (12) frontal pentagonal, 11⁄2 times broader than deep; (13) supraoculars large and quadrangular with oblique borders, twice as broad as deep; (14) widest anteriormost vertebral scale 5th; (15) parietals deeper than occipitals, oriented transversely; (16) infralabials 4; (17) cloacal shield subtriangular in shape; (18) head brown, with a large yellow spot covering rostral and adjacent scales (supranasals and frontal); (19) dor- sum with 7 dark brown stripes of contiguous ovals bordered by 8 moderate zigzag yellow stripes (= 7 dark stripes); (20) venter pale brown, each scale narrowly outlined in yellow; (21) midbody stripe formula (7 + 0) and middorsal pattern (3); (22) tail with a pale terminal spot covering 0–2 (x– = 1.1) dorsocaudals and 1–3 (x– = 1.8) subcaudals (ventral/dorsal ratio 1.6); and (23) apical spine a thorn-like compressed cone (Wallach 2016: 330). |
| Comment | Illustrations: Klauber, 1939. Synonymy: Partly after WALLACH 2016: 315 who also provides a more complete chresonymy and literature references. Listed as synonym of L. albifrons by KORNACKER 1999 and MCDIARMID et al. 1999 (although WALLACH stated that tenellus should be considered as valid species [in McDIARMID et al. 1999: 20]). FRANCO & PINTO 2010 and subsequent authors considered Stenosoma albifrons as a nomen dubium. Natera-Mumaw et al. (2015) consider Epictia tenella a junior synonym of E. albifrons, as already suggested by Hoogmoed & Gruber (1983). Pinto et al. 2018 suggest to designate the holotype of Leptotyphlops tenella as the neotype for S. albifrons. In that way both names would be coupled forever and take away all doubts about the identity of the taxon. Distribution: see map in ARREDONDO & ZAHER 2010 and Wallach 2016: 334. Reports from Ecuador are most likely based on misidentifications (CISNEROS-HEREDIA 2008); Wallach 2016 confirms that reports from Ecuador need confirmation. Not in Paraguay (Cacciali et al. 2016). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet of this snake is derived from the Latin tenellus, meaning quite delicate, apparently in reference to the small size and gracile proportions of the snake. |
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