Helicops phantasma MORAES-DA-SILVA, CECÍLIA AMARO, SALES-NUNES, RODRIGUES & CURCIO, 2021
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Helicops phantasma?
Helicops phantasma
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Helicops phantasma MORAES-DA-SILVA, CECÍLIA AMARO, SALES-NUNES, RODRIGUES & CURCIO 2021 Helicops leopardinus – SCARTOZZONI 2006 (partim) Helicops cf. leopardinus – BRANDÃO & PÉRES Jr., 2001 (partim) Helicops sp. – MARQUES et al. 2015 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Mato Grosso) Type locality: Brazil, Mato Grosso, Barra do Garças (15º21’35”S, 52º28’08”W), 840 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | Viviparous (Moraes-da-Silva et al. 2021) |
| Types | Holotype: UFMT-R 8290, adult male, collected by Ricardo A. Kawashita-Ribeiro, on 26 August 2009. Paratypes (n = 27): MZUSP, IBSP |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Helicops phantasma differs from all other congeners by the unique combination of the following characters: (1) dorsal scale rows 19/19/17–19, with moderate keels throughout the whole body length; (2) ventrals 119–131 (119–127 in males and 123–131 in females); (3) subcaudals 53–69 (65–69 in males, 53–60 in females); (4) subcaudal keels absent; (5) supralabials 8/8, 4th with orbit; (6) infralabials 10/10; (7) intergenials absent; (8) nasal semidivided; (9) one preocular; (10) two postoculars; (11) maxillary teeth 14+2–16+2; (12) hemipenis strongly semicapitate, with distinct globular expansion between hemipenial lobes, and two pairs of enlarged spines on the proximal region of base; (13) snout uniform dark greenish brown, lacking any spots or markings; (14) dorsum greenish brown, with narrow irregular dorsal black bands; (15) 32–49 dorsal bands on trunk (32–49 in males, 33–49 in females), and 19–39 dorsal bands on tail (22–29 in males, 19–26 in females); (16) venter background pale red to light orange (in preservative), checkered with asymmetrical black bands, mostly divided at midline with their halves alternately displaced in opposite directions, and (17) 30–42 black bands on venter (30–41 in males, 36–42 in females), and 16–26 black bands on tail (18–26 in males, 16–22 in females) (Moraes-da-Silva et al. 2021). |
| Comment | Similar species: Helicops leopardinus |
| Etymology | The specific epithet phantasma, from the Greek (Brown 1954) and incorporated to Latin vocabulary (Myers 1982), is a noun in apposition (Vendetti & Garland 2019) meaning “apparition”, “appearance”, “ghost”, “image”, and “phantom”. In Portuguese, the word “fantasma” (ghost, in English) refers more specifically to spirits of the dead that remain among the living. We chose the name as a reference to local extinctions of at least some populations of the new species due to the enormous areas of aquatic habitats suppressed by hydroelectric dams constructed along the Tocantins valley. Goulding et al. (2003) refer to the Tocantins River as “The Dammed River”, discussing the extension of environmental impacts of hydroelectric undertakings throughout the whole Tocantins Araguaia Basin. |
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