Habrophallos collaris (HOOGMOED, 1977)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Habrophallos collaris?
Habrophallos collaris
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Leptotyphlopidae, Epictinae, Epictini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Collared Blind Snake |
| Synonym | Leptotyphlops collaris HOOGMOED 1977 Leptotyphlops collaris — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980 Leptotyphlops collaris — STARACE 1998: 75 Leptotyphlops collaris — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 25 Epictia collaris — ADALSTEINSSON, BRANCH, TRAPE, VITT & HEDGES 2009 Epictia collaris — WALLACH et al. 2014: 276 Epictia collaris — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Habrophallos collaris — MARTINS et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | N Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil Type locality: Base Camp Nassau Mountains, District Marowijne, Suriname |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: RMNH 13468 (type status unclear fide Esther Dondorp, pers. comm. 28 Jan 2019) |
| Diagnosis | Definition and diagnosis (genus): Habrophallos is a small leptotyphlopid snake genus characterized by the following unique combination of characters: hemipenis unilobed, with two flattened areas (one basal and another on the apex); hemipenis with a large lateral flounce with folding at one side and a hook‐shaped process on the other side; apex of the hemipenis with a double projection lateroprox‐ imally oriented; skull with paired nasal bones; parietal bone not fused to any other skull element; parietal fontanelle absent, in‐ ternal pillars of parietal bone present; supraoccipitals fused into a single unit, moderate statolithic mass present in cavum vestibuli, otooccipitals prevent the basioccipital on forming the foramen magnum; distinct eye; midbody scale rows 14, midtail scale rows 10; 151–163 middorsal scales, 13–15 subcaudals, 1 + 1 supralabi‐ als; 92–120 mm maximum total length in adults, a body shape of 31–41 (total length/width), a relative tail length of 8.5%–9.7%, a relation of tail length/diameter of 3.3–4.7; supraocular scale present; terminal spine present; no striped pattern (although some lighter pigmentation in the tip of scales might suggest a striped pattern), brown dorsal color, and light brown venter; yellow blotch on rostral region present; ultimate part of tail including spine yellow; yellow nuchal collar present. Comparisons with other Neotropical leptotyphlopid genera (conditions for other genera in brackets): The genus Habrophallos is distinguished from Epictia by the presence of a fused supraoccip‐ ital bone (vs. paired), absence of the posterior process of quadrate (vs. presence), hemipenis with a large hook‐like lateral process at one side and an enlarged flounce with folds on the other side (vs. organ usually without enlarged flounce and hook‐like process), and presence of a double process in the apex of the hemipenis (vs. ab‐ sence). It differs from Trilepida by the presence of yellow coloration on the rostral region and at the end of the tail (vs. absence), by the otooccipital bones excluding the basioccipital of forming the fora‐ men magnum (vs. basioccipital participates in the formation of the foramen magnum) and absence of an enlarged hemipenial apex (vs. wide apex). The new genus differs from Siagonodon by the presence of a supraocular scale (vs. absence), although such character may be subject to variation in S. septemstriatus (Schneider, 1801), presence of a terminal spine (vs. absence), number of middorsal scales ranging from 151 to 163 (vs. 163–299), eye large and distinct, not covered by ocular scale (vs. usually very reduced as a black spot or indistinct and covered by ocular scale), rostral scale pyramidal, longer than wide (vs. rectangular, wider than long), rounded snout in dorsal view (vs. straight), absence of anterior or lateral expansion of the snout bones (vs. snout bones conspicuously anteriorly elongated in S. cupinensis (Bailey & Carvalho, 1946) and laterally expanded in S. septemstria‐ tus), premaxilla forms a short anteroventral cover of the snout (vs. conspicuously expanded posteriorly, comprising the ventral limits of the snout), dentary teeth short (vs. long), coronoid bone as wide as tall (vs. distinctively dorsally elongated, two or three times taller than wide). The genus Habrophallos differs from Mitophis by its low number of 151–163 middorsal scales (vs. 262–414), presence of two supralabials (vs. four), brown dorsum with a yellow blotch on the rostral scale and a yellow end of the tail (vs. pale brown or unpig‐ mented dorsum without yellow blotches on rostral scale and tail), and presence of supraoccipitals not participating on the formation of the foramen magnum (vs. a posterior extension to participate in the formation of the foramen magnum). The new genus differs from Tetracheilostoma by the presence of two supralabials (vs. four) and distinct (vs. indistinct) supraoccipital bones. The genus Habrophallos distinguishes from Rena by its lower number of 151–163 middorsal scales (vs. 168–312), presence of yellow blotches on the rostral scale and end of the tail (vs. absence), otooccipitals excluding the basioccipital on forming the foramen magnum (vs. basioccipital participates in the formation of the foramen magnum), fused supraoccipital bone (vs. paired), and paired nasal bones (vs. fused). Color in life (Figure 1): Coloration in life based on a photograph of a presumably adult individual (MNHN2019.0003). General dorsal background color medium brown (Hazel, Color 26), with scales bordered by dark brown (Warm sepia, Color 40) outlines. Rostral spot, nuchal collar, and tip of tail (including terminal spine) medium yellow (Cream yellow, Color 82). Additional color descriptions from individ‐ uals in life may be found in Hoogmoed and Lima (2018). |
| Comment | Type species: Habrophallos collaris (Hoogmoed, 1977) is the type species of the genus Habrophallos MARTINS et al. 2020. Distribution: see map in Hoogmoed and Lima (2018). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. |
| Etymology | The species is named after the Latin word collaris meaning collar (Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013). The generic name is derived from the Greek “habros” (pretty, graceful, delicate) + the Greek “phallos,” used herein in reference to the small, delicate, and diagnostic hemipenial morphology of the new genus. |
| References |
|
| External links |