Phalotris tricolor (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)
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Phalotris tricolor
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Tricolored Burrowing Snake Portuguese: Coral, Coral-Falsa, Falsa-Coral |
| Synonym | Elapomorphus tricolor DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 837 Phalotris tricolor — COPE 1862: 524 Elapomorphus tricolor — JAN 1865 Elapomorphus tricolor — STRAUCH 1884: 565 Elapomorphus tricolor — ABALOS et al. 1964 Elapomorphus punctatus DE LEMA 1979 Elapomorphus tricolor — FREIBERG 1982 Phalotris punctatus FERRAREZZI 1993 Elapomorphus (Phalotris) tricolor — CEI 1993 Phalotris punctatus — LEYNAUD & BUCHER 1999: 27 Phalotris tricolor — LEYNAUD & BUCHER 1999: 28 Phalotris tricolor — DE LEMA 2002 Phalotris punctatus — DE LEMA 2002 Phalotris punctatus — GIRAUDO & SCROCCHI 2003: 30 Phalotris punctatus — MARTINS & LEMA 2007 Phalotris punctatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 536 Phalotris tricolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 537 Phalotris tricolor — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Phalotris punctatus — SCROCCHI et al. 2019 Phalotris punctatus — SCROCCHI et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | S/W Brazil (Paraná [HR 27: 216 as Phalotris tricolor]), Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina (Santiago del Estero) Type locality: "Santa-Cruz," [Bolivia]. Restricted to Santa Cruz de la Sierra à Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, Bolivia by Vanzolini, 1948: 383. punctatus: Argentina (Misiones, Córdoba, Tucumán); Type locality: Rosario de la Frontera, Salta, Argentina. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MNHN-RA 0520, a 938 mm skin (A. d'Orbigny, 1826-1833). Location of other syntypes unknown (I. Ineich, pers. comm., 29 Aug 2017). MNHN-RA 0520 designated as lectotype by De Lema et al. (2005). Holotype: MLPA = MLP 151, male; paratype: MACN [punctatus] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: “Espécie de grande porte que pode atingir quase um metro de comprimento. Difere de P. matogrossensis sp. nov. por apresentar cabeça preta no adulto com focinho pardo no jovem; colar branco de comprimento médio; colar preto longo, até 12 DO vertebrais que atingem as VE; margem posterior do colar preto irregular e sombreada posteriormente; cor de fundo dorsal castanho avermelhada a amarelada; geralmente apresenta pontos pretos espalhados no dorso tendendo à formação de estrias; alguns exemplares possuem manchas escuras paraventrais espaçadas irregularmente; corpo reforçado e mais curto; cor ventral geral amarelo citrino; média de VE 211,4; cauda mais longa (média de SC 35). P. matogrossensis sp. nov. apresenta cabeça preta com focinho vermelho; colar branco geralmente muito longo; colar preto com até 6 DO vertebrais atingindo levemente a primeira fila de VE(?); margem posterior do colar preto pouco irregular e sem sombreado posterior; cor de fundo dorsal vermelho coral imaculada; região paraventral branco-imaculada; corpo muito alongado e isodiamétrico em toda sua extensão; cor ventral branca; média de VE 205; cauda mais curta (média de SC 26,6). Difere de P. mertensi, por esta apresentar as escamas dorsais com ápice preto e a coloração de base dorsal vermelha brilhante, focinho avermelhado e colares branco e preto nuco-cervicais estreitos, sendo o preto mais estreito que o branco. Difere de P. cuyanus, principalmente pela cor de fundo dorsal pardo-amarelada (ocre) imaculada desta última.” (De Lema et al. 2005: 65) Additional details (61 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Type species: Elapomorphus tricolor is the type species of the genus Phalotris COPE 1862. The genus Phalotris is distinguished from other Elapomorphini genera (Apostolepis Cope, 1862, Coronelaps Lema, 2010, and Elapomorphus Wiegman, 1843) by having fused prefrontals, which are separated from internasals (Moura et al. 2013). Synonymy: Lema 2005 synonymized Elapomorphus punctatus with Elapomorphus tricolor and assigned all Brazilian records of P. tricolor. Records from eastern Paraguay, accepted as P. tricolor by Lema et al. (2005), are now considered as P. mattogrossensis (Cacciali and Motte 2007). Distribution: This species has been recorded from Uruguay inn the past but according to CARREIRA et al. (2005) there are no reliable records from that country. Argentinian reports of this species were actually Phalotris punctatus, a very similar species. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. |
| Etymology | Named after Latin tri, three + Latin color, color; pigment; shade, tinge. (Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) The genus was named after Phaotris COPE 1861: Greek phalos (φάλος), horn of a helmet + Greek -tris (τρίς), thrice, thrice as much or many (probably referred to the three temporal scales characteristic of th type species). |
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