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Helicops carinicaudus (WIED-NEUWIED, 1824)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesHelicops carinicaudus carinicaudus WIED-NEUWIED 1825
Helicops carinicaudus triserialis LINDHOLM in LAMPE & LINDHOLM 1902 
Common NamesE: Wied's Keelback
G: Kielschwanznatter
Portuguese: Cobra-D’água, Cobra-D’água-Preta, Cobra-D’água-do-Litoral 
SynonymColuber carinicaudus WIED-NEUWIED 1824: 300
Helicops carinicaudus — WAGLER 1828
Homalopsis carinicaudus — SCHLEGEL 1837: 350
Helicops carinicaudus — WAGLER 1830: 170
Helicops carinicaudus — GÜNTHER 1861: 427
Helicops carinicaudus — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 744
Helicops carinicaudus — BOULENGER 1886: 435
Helicops carinicauda — BOULENGER 1893: 276
Helicops carinicaudus — PETERS et al. 1970: 123
Helicops carinicaudus — PONTES et al. 2008
Helicops carinicaudus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 321

Helicops carinicaudus triserialis LINDHOLM in LAMPE & LINDHOLM 1902
Helicops carinicauda var. triserialis LINDHOLM in LAMPE & LINDHOLM 1902
Helicops carinicaudus triserialis — KÖHLER & GÜSTEN 2007
Helicops carinicaudus triserialis — DANILOV 2019 
DistributionBrazil (Espirito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro)

triserialis: Type locality: Brasilien [Brasil]  
Reproductionovovivparous (Braz et al. 2016) 
TypesHolotype: AMNH 3365, a 909 mm specimen.
Holotype: lost, formerly MWNH 857 (lost fide Köhler & Güsten 2007) [triserialis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Helicops is the most diverse genus of Hydropsini with 16 extant species (Kawashita-Ribeiro et al. 2013), diagnosed by the presence of nude flounces on the lobes of the hemipenis (Zaher 1999). Externally, Helicops species can be easily identified by the position of the eyes and nostrils toward the top of the head, single internasal scale, cloacal shield divided, and some or all dorsal scales keeled (Peters and Orejas-Miranda 1970).


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CommentSubspecies: Helicops carinicaudus infrataeniatus is now considered a valid species (see Helicops infrataeniatus). Photos printed in Uruguay (Achaval & Olmos, 2003, 2007, Carreira et al., 2005) present Helicops H. carinicaudus as H. infrataeniatus (T. de Lema, pers. comm., 3 Feb 2017).

Synonymy: Helicops carinicaudus triserialis could presumably represent a junior
synonym of Helicops infrataeniatus (Jan, 1865) (see Hofstadler Deiques & Zanini Cechin 1990, Cei 1993).

Distribution: Not in Argentina according to  GIRAUDO & SCROCCHI 2002. Not in Uruguay according to CARREIRA et al. (2005). One report from Colombia is questionable (Pérez-Santos & Moreno 1988). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019.

Type species: Coluber carinicaudus WIED-NEUWIED 1825 is the type species of the genus Helicops WAGLER 1828.

Phylogenetics: for a phylogeny of Helicops see Murphy et la. 2020.

Comparisons: for a table of dorsal patterns, dorsal scale counts, and keel type across all species of Helicops, see Moraes da Silva et al. 2021.

Key: Schöneberg & Köhler 2021 present a key to the species of Helicops. 
EtymologyNamed after the keel-like shape of its tail (Latin “carina” = keel, especially of a ship, and Latin “cauda” = tail).

The genus name probably derives from Greek helikos = ending, spiral, tendril, and Greek ops, opos = face, eye, in allusion to the position of the eyes toward the top of the head.

The species name needs to be carinicauda, according to ICZN Article 34.2.1 which states that the gender of a noun in apposition must not be changed to agree in gender with the generic name, The Latin noun for tail is cauda and of female gender. For further explanations and examples see Böhme & Denzer (2019).

However, ICZN: article 30.1.4.3. states that “A compound genus-group name ending in -ops is to be treated as masculine, regardless of its derivation or of its treatment by its author" hence the name should remain Helicops carinicaudus. 
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