Heteroliodon fohy GLAW, VENCES & NUSSBAUM, 2005
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Heteroliodon fohy
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| Higher Taxa | Pseudoxyrhophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Heteroliodon fohy GLAW, VENCES & NUSSBAUM 2005 Heteroliodon fohy — WALLACH et al. 2014: 330 |
| Distribution | Madagascar (Antsiranana) Type locality: Montagne des Francais, , 12° 19’ 17’’ S, 49° 20’ 12’’E, 170 m elevation, Antsiranana Province, Far Northern Madagascar. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZSM 548/2000, male (most probably adult), collected by: M. Landsberger, M. Vences, F. Glaw, & K. Schmidt on March 13, 2000 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A stout (ratio of width at midbody/SVL 5 0.035) and apparently small (280 mm total length) Heteroliodon with 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, a loreal scale, a uniformly dark colored dorsum, and a light colored complete nuchal collar. Differs from H. occipitalis by lack of light colored vertebral stripe, lower number of ventrals (136 versus 158–182), lower number of subcaudals (57 versus 61–72), longer relative tail length [TL/SVL] (0.32 versus 0.25–0.31), higher number of infralabials (8–9 versus 7) of which the fifth is largest (versus fourth is largest), and much stouter habitus. Differs from H. lava by much lower number of ventrals (136 versus 214–224), lower number of subcaudals (57 versus 63–65), apparently smaller size (280 mm versus 441 mm total length), much longer relative tail length (0.32 versus 0.21–0.22), higher number of infralabials (8–9 versus 7) of which fifth is largest (versus fourth is largest), and much stouter habitus. The most important diagnostic characters of the three Heteroliodon species are summarized in Table 1. H. fohy is distinguished from other comparable Madagascan snakes with 17 dorsal scale rows as follows: from Exallodontophis albignaci by lack of longitudinal stripes and much lower number of ventrals (136 versus 180–196), from Pararhadinaea melanogaster by light ventral coloration and unstriped dorsal coloration. In addition, H. fohy differs from both these species by presence of a loreal scale. (Glaw et al. 2005) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after the Malagasy word for “short”, as opposed to the Malagasy word “lava” for “long” (as in its congener H. lava). |
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