Epictia vanwallachi KOCH, VENEGAS & BÖHME, 2015
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Epictia vanwallachi
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| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Epictinae, Epictini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Epictia vanwallachi KOCH, VENEGAS & BÖHME 2015 |
| Distribution | Peru (Pataz) Type locality: Vijus Village, Pataz Province, La Libertad Region, Peru (S 07°43’11.6’’, W 077°39’51.1’’, elevation 1290 m.a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: CORBIDI 14682, collected by E. Hoyas Granda, A. Beraún and C. Koch on 10 January 2010. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. (1) 14 midbody scale rows; (2) 10 midtail scale rows; (3) 2 supralabials, first large and in broad contact with supraocular; (4) 16 subcaudals; (5) 188 mid-dorsal scale rows; (6) dorsal scales of head, body and tail brown with thin white or yellowish margins; (7) rostral uniformly grayish-brown; (8) terminal spine dorsally and ventrally and last three subcaudals yellow; (9) ventral scales of head, body and tail grayish-brown with creamish- white margins. Comparisons [conditions for other Epictia in brackets]: By having 188 mid-dorsal scales, the new species has a higher number than E. collaris [155–166] and a lower number than E. albipuncta [213–285], E. alfredschmidti [267–279], E. borapeliotes [256–282], E. columbi [240–265], E. diaplocia [205–233], E. subcrotilla [318–333], E. melanura [395–396], E. rufidorsa [255–270], E. septemlineata [257], E. striatula [216–265], E. teaguei [232–259], E. tenella [198–299], E. tesselata [258–283] and E. tricolor [285–310]. By having 16 subcaudal scales it further differs from E. columbi [22–25], E. melanura [18–20], E. munoai [10–14], E. nasalis [21] and E. tricolor [18–23]. By lacking a yellow dorsal blotch on the anterior region of the head this species differs from Epictia septemlineata, E. alfredschmidti, E. borapeliotes, E. clinorostris, E. collaris, E. diaplocia, E. goudotii, E. magnamaculata, E. nasalis, E. peruviana, E. rubrolineata, E. signata, E. striatula, E. subcrotilla, E. teaguei, E. tenella, E. tesselata, E. tricolor, E, undecimstriata and E. vellardi. It further differs from E. septemlineata [dorsum with seven black longitudinal stripes] and E. rubrolineata [dorsum red with 5 longitudinal black stripes] by having a color pattern with grayish-brown dorsal scales with thin white or yellowish margins. This species does not have striped pattern and multiple colors as mentioned by Adalsteinsson et al. (2009) as diagnostic characters for the genus Epictia, but it shares all other diagnostic characters with its congeners. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | This species name is a patronym for Van Wallach, American herpetologist, in recognition of his outstanding contributions towards systematics of the snake family Leptotyphlopidae. |
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