Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus (ESQUEDA, NATERA, LA MARCA & ILIJA-FISTAR, 2007)
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Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Liophis dorsocorallinus ESQUEDA, NATERA, LA MARCA & ILIJA-FISTAR 2007 Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus — GRAZZIOTIN et al. 2012 Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus — ASCENSO et al. 2019 Erythrolampus dorsocorallinus — RABOSKY et al. 2019 (in error) Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Venezuela (Barinas), Brazil (Acre), Bolivia, Peru Type locality: 40 km de la población de El Cantón, 100 m elevation, 07° 27’ 85’’ N, 71° 02’ 98’’ W, Municipio Andrés Eloy Blanco, Estado Barinas, Venezuela. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ULABG 6691 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus is distinguished from all congeners by the combination of the following characteristics: (1) 17 dorsal scale rows with reduction at midbody; (2) apical pit single; (3) ventrals 142–158 in females and 141–158 in males; (4) subcaudals 60–77 in females and 62–80 in males; (5) dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream with distal half of the scales black; (6) upper edges of supralabials with distinctive dark post-orbital stripe; (7) belly creamish-white with black spots with squared or rhomboid shape arranged in a checkered pattern; (8) lateral black spots and dorsal-lateral stripe absent or indistinct; (9) ventral surface of tail creamish-white without black spots; (10) intrasulcal region with elongated spines in a row extending into the medial region of the branches of the sulcus; (11) medial region of hemipenial body on asulcate face ornamented with a row of eight to ten spines; (12) sulcus spermaticus bifurcates at medial region of hemipenial body; and (13) moderate body size (SVL 300–578 mm). [from Ascenso et al. 2019: 76] Comparisons. Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus shares a lateral-posterior stripe along the posterior region of the body and tail, and usually a cream belly with black spots of square or rhomboid shape with E. reginae, E. macrosomus, E. zweifeli, and E. oligolepis, being the only exception for this latter which present the ventral scales ususally without marks. Among all congeners, E. dorsocorallinus differs from E. reginae, E. macrosomus, E. oligolepis, and E. zweifeli by having dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream, with distal half of the scales black (vs. olive green dorsal ground color on anterior third of body gradually changing to grayish-brown, except for E. zweifeli with dorsum yellowish-cream and distal half of scales black). Additionally, E. dorsocorallinus differs from all subspecies of E. epinephelus by having dorsal scales reddish or bluish-cream with apical half black (vs. dorsum of head cream or olive green with thick postorbital stripe, and dorsum of body olive cream, with bands anteriorly). Regarding the sympatric taxa, E. dorsocorallinus differs from E. cobella, E. taeniogaster and E. breviceps by having a cream belly with spots occupying an area lower than a ventral scale (vs. cream belly scattered of complete black bands, usually occupying two ventral scales); from E. miliaris by having dorsum of head, body and tail reddish or bluish-cream with the distal half of the scales colored black (vs. dorsum of head, body and tail yellowish-cream with distal half of scales are colored black and dorsal-lateral stripe absent); from E. typhlus and E. poecilogyrus by having 17 dorsal scale rows in the midbody (vs. 19 dorsal scale rows in the midbody). Differs from from E. taeniurus by having 141–158 ventral scales (vs. 152–181 ventral scales). [from Ascenso et al. 2019: 77] |
| Comment | Synonymy: a synonym of Liophis reginae fide WALLACH et al. 2014: 385 (citing “Dixon, in litt.”) |
| Etymology | named after its red (Latin ”corallinus”) back (Latin “ dorsum”). |
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