Apostolepis adhara FRANÇA, BARBO, SILVA-JÚNIOR, SILVA & ZAHER, 2018
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Apostolepis adhara?
Apostolepis adhara
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: São Salvador burrow-snake |
| Synonym | Apostolepis adhara FRANÇA, BARBO, SILVA-JÚNIOR, SILVA & ZAHER 2018 Apostolepis adhara — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Apostolepis adhara — MARRA-SANTOS 2024 (in error) |
| Distribution | Brazil (Tocantins, Goiás) Type locality: region surrounding the São Salvador Hydroelectric Power Plant (12°48’18.96’’S, 48°13’ 11.79’’W ca. 120 m above sea level; hereafter asl), municipality of São Salvador do Tocantins, state of Tocantins, Brazil. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: CEPB 6554, Probably an adult female, collected by N.J. da Silva-Júnior and team. Paratype. Probably adult female, MZUSP 16727, same data as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Apostolepis adhara can be distinguished from all congeners by the following exclusive combination of characters: dorsum of body creamish in preservative, with eleven narrow black stripes on dorsolateral region (occupying only the center of the scales), preocular absent, supralabials six and infralabials five; ventrals 238–239, and subcaudals 36–37. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about about 1.11 pages) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Similar species: Apostolepis nelsonjorgei; the photos of this species in Marra-Santos 2024 is actualy A. nelsonjorgei (fide Daniella França, pers. comm., 21 May 2026). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet “adhara” refers to the name of the star Epsilon Canis Majoris (ε CMa), from the constellation of Canis Major, which means “maidens” or "(the) virgins" in Arabic (Al ʽAdhārā) (Allen 1963). In the Brazilian flag, this star represents the state of Tocantins. Curiously, Adhara is the second brightest star of its constellation, as well as the Cerrado, corresponds to the second largest biome in South America. |
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