Amphisbaena mongoyo TEXEIRA JUNIOR, DAL VECHIO, RECODER, CASSIMIRO, SENA & RODRIGUES, 2019
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Amphisbaena mongoyo
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| Higher Taxa | Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Amphisbaena mongoyo TEXEIRA JUNIOR, DAL VECHIO, RECODER, CASSIMIRO, SENA & RODRIGUES 2019 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Bahia) Type locality: Fazenda Esperança, Vitória da Conquista municipality, (14°47′26.94′′S, 40°43′14.94′′W, 917 m a.s.l., WGS84), Bahia state, Brazil |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. MZUSP 106167, collected by M. Teixeira Jr., R.S. Recoder, C. Garcia, M.F. Santos, and N.B. Matos, on 22 October 2011. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. (1) A small species (holotype SVL = 141 mm), (2) four precloacal pores arranged in a continuous series; (3) snout rounded in profile and dorsal view; (4) body annuli 208; (5) caudal annuli 25; (6) autotomy site at the 10th caudal annuli; (7) 14 dorsal and 16 ventral segments per annulus at midbody; (8) three supralabials; (9) three infralabials, second the largest; (10) two rows of postgenials; (11) postmalar row absent; (12) head without major scale fusions; (13) lateral sulcus present; (14) dorsal and ventral sulci absent. Comparison with other species. Meristic characters are presented in Table 1. In the description below, characters from other species are presented in parenthesis. Among the South American four-pored Amphisbaena species, the rounded snout immediately distinguishes the new species from A. cerradensis and A. kingii (Bell, 1833) (snout ventrally and laterally compressed, respectively). The number of precloacal pores in A. acrobeles is unknown, but its snout also ends in an extensive vertical keel. The presence of four pores arranged in a continuous series distinguishes the new species from A. arenaria Vanzolini 1991b, A. bedai Vanzolini 1991b, A. brasiliana (Gray, 1865), and A. saxosa (Castro-Mello, 2003) (four pores grouped in two series, separated at midline by non-pored scales). Among the remaining four-pored South American species of Amphisbaena, A. mongoyo sp. nov. can be distinguished from A. heathi Schmidt, 1936, A. hogei Vanzolini, 1950, A. ridleyi Boulenger, 1890, A. tragorrhectes Vanzolini, 1971, A. prunicolor (Cope, 1885), and A. camura Cope, 1862 by higher number of body annuli, 208 (183–206, in combination) and A. talisiae, A. cunhai Hoogmoed and Ávila-Pires, 1991, A. arda, A. carvalhoi Gans, 1965b, A. lumbri‐ calis Vanzolini, 1996, A. vermicularis Wagler, 1824, A. ibi‐ jara Rodrigues et al., 2003, A. sanctaeritae Vanzolini, 1994, A. frontalis Vanzolini, 1991b, A. hastata Vanzolini, 1991a, A. cuiabana (Strüssmann and Carvalho, 2001), and A. su‐ pernumeraria Mott et al., 2009 by lower number of annuli (218–337, in combination). It is distinguished from A. alba Linnaeus, 1758, A. albocingulata Boettger, 1885, A. angustifrons Cope, 1861, A. bahiana, A. camura, A. car‐ valhoi, A. cegei Montero et al., 1997, A. cuiabana, A. da‐ rwinii, A. gracilis Strauch, 1881, A. heterozonata, A. hogei, A. medemi Gans and Mathers, 1977, A. minuta Hulse and McCoy, 1979, A. munoai Klappenbach, 1960, A. nigricauda Gans, 1966b, A. pericensis Noble, 1920, A. plumbea Gray, 1872, A. polygrammica Werner, 1901, A. prunicolor, A. ri‐ dleyi, A. rozei Lancini, 1963, A. slateri Boulenger, 1907, A. spurrelli Boulenger, 1915, A. supernumeraria, and A. tra‐ chura Cope, 1885 by higher number of caudal annuli, 25 (12–24, in combination) and A. arda, A. cunhai, A. fronta‐ lis, A. hastata, A. heathi, A. myersi Hoogmoed, 1988, A. tra‐ gorrhectes, and A. vanzolinii Gans, 1963 by a lower number of caudal annuli (26–40, in combination). In having the autotomic site at the 10th caudal annuli, the new species can be distinguished from all species except Amphisbaena lumbricalis, A. supernumeraria, and A. vanzolinii (lower or higher values, in combinations). From A. albocingulata, A. heathi, A. hogei, A. nigricauda, A. sanctaeritae, A. talisiae, and A. tragorrhectes, it can be distinguished by higher number of dorsal segments, 14 (10–13, in combination) and A. alba, A. angustifrons, A. arda, A. bolivica Mertens, 1929, A. camura, A. cegei, A. hastata, A. medemi, A. minuta, A. myersi, A. occidentalis Cope, 1876, A. plumbea, A. polygrammica, A. ridleyi, A. ro‐ zei, A. spurrelli, and A. vermicularis by a lower number of dorsal segments, 14 (16–42, in combination). And from A. slevini Schmidt, 1936, A. sanctaeritae, A. talisiae, and A. tragorrhectes, the new species if diagnosed by higher number of ventral segments, 16 (10–14, in combination), and from A. alba, A. angustifrons, A. arda, A. bolivica, A. ca‐ mura, A. cegei, A. heathi, A. medemi, A. minuta, A. occiden‐ talis, A. plumbea, A. ridleyi, A. rozei, A. supernumeraria, A. trachura, and A. vermicularis by lower number of ventral segments, 16 (17–46, in combination). |
| Comment | Known only from the holotype. Habitat: the holotype was found buried in sandy soil covered with leaf litter, herbs, and fallen branches at the edge of a deciduous forest, close to an unpaved road (Fig. 16), at the eastern border of Conquista plateau, 917 m a.s.l. (Fig. 9 in Texeira-Junior et al. 2019). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a noun in apposition referring to the Brazilian indigenous people Kamacã-Mongoyó, one of the indigenous groups that inhabited the region of Vitória da Conquista municipality (Oliveira, 2012). History indicates that during a battle against the natives one of the first settlers at the region, João Gonçalves da Costa (1720–1819), promised Our Lady of Victories he would build a church if he succeeded in conquering the region from the Mongoyó Indians (Oliveira, 2012), and so he did. Even after being defeated in battle, the natives continued fighting the colonizers sporadically until João Gonçalves da Costa invited the Indians to a feast where they were ambushed and most were killed in what became known in Portuguese as “O Banquete da Morte” (“the Feast of Death”; Wied, 1821; Oliveira, 2012). The surviving Indians penetrated the forests and over time this people and culture, like so many other indigenous groups, disappeared. |
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