Phalotris illustrator SCROCCHI, GIRAUDO & NENDA, 2022
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Phalotris illustrator
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Phalotris illustrator SCROCCHI, GIRAUDO & NENDA 2022 Phalotris bilineatus — SCROCCHI et al. 2006 |
| Distribution | Argentina (Tucumán, Salta) Type locality: 3 km from the cemetery of Nío River (26.438312°S, 64.998233°W; 991 m above sea level, asl hereafter), Departamento Burruyacú, Tucumán, Argentina. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: FML 23858, adult female, collected on October 03, 2010, by M. Paz. Paratypes: Four specimens, all from Argentina: juvenile of unknown sex (FML 29520) and adult female (FML 29521) collected between 23–28 August 1978 by E. Lavilla, G. Scrocchi and E. Terán at Balderrama (25.489520° S, 65.039234° W; 1337 m asl), Sierra de Metán, Departamento Metán, province of Salta; female (FML 23860, partially damaged with crushed head and cut body) collected on April 24, 2010 by M. Torres-Bugeau at Raco (26.665408° S, 65.420254° W; 1153 m asl), Departamento Tafí Viejo, province of Tucumán; female (FML 12388) collected on May 12, 2001 by G. Coronel at Finca El Milagro (24.858180°S, 65.538322° W; 1321 m asl), La Merced Chica, Departamento Rosario de Lerma, province of Salta. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Phalotris illustrator is distinguished from all congeners in the P. bilineatus group (including the two revalidated taxa and P. bilineatus redefined in this paper) by a unique combination of the following characters: head entirely black (vs. head with light areas or blotches on rostral and supralabials and head venter almost uniformly white in all other species); nuchal collars absent (vs. present in other species of the group, except for P. bilineatus and P. spegazzinii); venter almost uniformly black (vs. venter white or with black blotches in all other species); flanks uniformly black to the level of lower half of fifth dorsal scale row (vs. flanks with a narrow black stripe between 4–5th dorsal scale row and 1–3rd dorsal rows white in P. bilineatus; white dot in each scale in P. reticulatus; or black stripe from 2nd or 3rd to 5th dorsal row, and the first dorsal row (or 1st and 2nd) white in P. spegazzinii); cloacal black ring present (vs absent in P. multipunctatus); rostral well separated from the prefrontal (vs. rostral contacting the prefrontal or slightly separated in P. bilineatus). |
| Comment | Distribution: See map in Scrocchi et al. 2002: 51 (Fig. 3). |
| Etymology | Named after the secular philosophical movement of the XVII Century, known as "enlightenment" in English and "illustration" in Latin. This philosophy gave rise to both science and Latin American independence movements. Because Argentina celebrates in 2016 the bicentennial of its independence, and several major battles against the Spanish colonizers were fought in northwestern Argentina (Tucumán and Salta), where inhabit the new species; we decided to honor the Argentinian heroes of the independence in Latin America belonging to the "enlightenment" philosophical movement. |
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