Erythrolamprus oligolepis (BOULENGER, 1905)
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Erythrolamprus oligolepis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Cobra-de-Capim, Jararaquinha, Parelheira |
| Synonym | Liophis oligolepis BOULENGER 1905: 455 Liophis reginae semilineata — DIXON 1983: 3 (part.). Leimadophis oligolepis — CUNHA & NASCIMENTO 1993 Liophis oligolepis — FROTA et al. 2005 Erythrolamprus oligolepis — GRAZZIOTIN et al. 2012: 21 Erythrolamprus oligolepis — PEREIRA FAGUNDES DE FRANCA et al. 2013 Liophis oligolepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 391 Erythrolamprus reginae semilineata — SANTOS-COSTA et al. 2015 Erythrolamprus oligolepis — NATERA-MUMAW et al. 2015: 173 Erythrolamprus oligolepis — ASCENSO et al. 2019 Erythrolampus oligolepis — RABOSKY et al. 2019 (in error) Erythrolamprus oligolepis — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Pará, Mato Grosso and Maranhão), Venezuela, Peru (Iquitos, Estirón and Loreto) Type locality: “Igapé-Assu, Pará, Brazil.” Emended to Igarapé-Açu, Pará, Brazil fide Cunha & Nascimento (1993: 73). |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.4.66, juvenile male |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Erythrolamprus oligolepis can be distinguished from all congeners by unique combination of the following characters: (1) dorsal scales rows 15, without reduction at the midbody; (2) apical pit single; (3) ventrals 134–166 in females and 142–160 in males; (4) subcaudals 55–67 in females and 53–64 in males; (5) dorsal coloration of the head olive green, extending to anterior third of the body, gradually changing to grayish-brown at midbody; (6) upper edges of supralabials with distinctive dark postorbital stripe; (7) belly creamish-white usually without black spots, except for the specimens of the west margin of the Amazon River, which present a slight pigmentation; (8) lateral black spots extending from anterior third of the body, between 2–3th dorsal scale rows, to form a lateral stripe, which extends to the end of the tail; (9) subcaudals without dots or spots; (10) intrasulcal region of hemipenial body with spines slightly elongated, arranged in a row extending from distal region of lobes to the level of bifurcation of sulcus spermaticus; (11) medial region of asulcate face of hemipenial body ornamented with spinules homegeneously distributed; (12) sulcus spermaticus bifurcates at half length of the hemipenial body; and (13) small body size (SVL 114–392 mm) [from ASCENSO et al. 2019]. Comparisons. Erythrolamprus oligolepis shares a lateral stripe along the posterior region of the body and the tail, and usually a cream belly with black spots of square or rhomboid shape with E. reginae, E. macrosomus, E. dorsocorallinus, and E. zweifeli. Erythrolamprus oligolepis differs from reginae and E. macrosomus by having 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody and belly usually without spots (vs. 17 dorsal scales rows at midbody and ventral rectangular dark spots); differs from E. zweifeli and E. dorsocorallinus by having dorsal ground color regularly pigmented of dark brown (vs. dorsal scales with apical half black and the basal portion yellowish-cream, reddish or bluish-cream). Additionally, E. oligolepis differ from all subspecies of E. epinephelus by having dorsal ground color of head regularly pigmented of olive green, extending from anterior third of the body, without bands or blotches, 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody, and belly usually without spots (vs. dorsum of the head cream or olive green, with bands on anterior portion of body and with a black spot and a thick postorbital stripe on each side of head, 17 dorsal scales rows at midbody, and belly with dark rectangular spots); differs from E. pyburni by having the anterior third of the body without spots, subcaudals 55–67 in females, and 53–64 in males, fourth and fifth supralabials in contact with the eye, and nine infralabial scales (vs. anterior third of the body with transversal spots, 37–40 subcaudals, third and fourth supralabials in contact with the eye, and eight infralabial scales) [from ASCENSO et al. 2019]. |
| Comment | Synonymy partly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Dixon 1983 placed Erythrolamprus oligolepis in the synonymy of Liophis reginae semilineata but CUNHA & NASCIMENTO 1993 revalidated it as Leimadophis oligolepis. Habitat: forest |
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