Leposternon mineiro RIBEIRO, SILVEIRA & SANTOS JR, 2018
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Leposternon mineiro
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| Higher Taxa | Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Cobra-de-Duas-Cabeças, Cobra-Cega |
| Synonym | Leposternon mineiro RIBEIRO, SILVEIRA & SANTOS JR 2018 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Minas Gerais) Type locality: Cerrado sensu stricto (typical savanna of Cerrado biome) near a weigh station on highway BR 040 in ‘‘Balança,’’ municipality of João Pinheiro, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 17°45’47’’S, 46°09’12’’W datum WGS84, 863 m. a.s.l. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: MNRJ 16198, a female, collected on 21 December 2007 by A. L. Silveira (Figs. 1, 2). Paratypes: MNRJ 15489 (N = 5), female (N = 2); from type- locality, collected in 1 May 2007 by A. L. Silveira; and UNB = CHUNB 44482, from Jatobá Farm, municipality of Buritizeiro, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, collected between 5 and 11 December 2004 by an unknown collector. Males (N = 2): MNRJ 15490, from type-locality, collected on 1 May 2007 by A. L. Silveira; and MNRJ 15766, from type-locality, collected on 2 November 2007 by A. L. Silveira. Specimen with of unidentified sex (N = 1): MNRJ 17795, collection data not known. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (Characters of Others Species in Parentheses). Leposternon mineiro sp. nov. is a medium-sized amphisbaenian, largest specimen total length 366.8 mm, and differs from all other South American amphisbaenians, except Leposternon spp. and Amphisbaena anomala (Barbour, 1914) in having only the frontal portion of facial section of head depressed (Fig. 1B), pectoral shields with an irregular form, and dermal annuli not regularly arranged (Fig. 2A) (head compressed or rounded and pectoral shields arranged in regular annuli). It differs from A. anomala mainly by having the rostral and nasals fused into a single shield, with nostrils opening on the ventral surface of snout (Fig. 1C) and autotomic site absent (nasals distinct of rostral and autotomic site present). Leposternon mineiro sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners, except L. cerradensis, L. kisteumacheri, L. maximus, and L. polystegum, in having two precloacal pores and pectoral shields that are mostly diamond shaped (Fig. 2A) (pores and mostly diamond-shaped pectoral shields absent in L. bagual, L. infraorbitale, L. microcephalum, L. octostegum, L. scutigerum, and L. wuchereri; Table 1). The new species differs from unpored Leposternon species by the following combination of morphological characters (Table 1). Pholidosis and body coloration: two supralabials (three in L. infraorbitale and one in L. octostegum); three infralabials (one in L. octostegum and L. scutigerum; two in L. infraorbitale and L. microcephalum); rostronasal and azygous shields in contact (separated in L. infraorbitale and L. microcephalum); 277–300 dorsal postpectoral half-annuli (< 264 in L. bagual, L. microcephalum, and L. wuchereri; > 352 in L. octostegum); 270–280 ventral postpectoral half-annuli (< 255 in L. bagual, L. microcephalum, and L. wuchereri; and > 340 in L. octostegum); 15–16 tail annuli (< 15 in L. bagual, L. infraorbitale, L. microcephalum, L. octostegum, L. scutigerum, and L. wuchereri); 26–30 dorsal segments in midbody half-annulus (16– 19 in L. wuchereri); 24–39 ventral segments in midbody half-annulus (16–21 in L. wuchereri); adult specimens in preservative with dorsal portion of body whitish (yellow in L. infraorbitale and L. scutigerum; dark brown in L. bagual and L. microcephalum). Skull: five premaxillary teeth (seven in L. microcephalum; one in L. octostegum and L. scutigerum), three maxillary teeth (four in L. bagual, L. infraorbitale, and L. microcephalum; five in L. scutigerum); six dentary teeth (five in L. octostegum and L. scutigerum; four or five in L. wuchereri); premaxillary dorsal and ventral foramina absent (present in L. bagual, L. infraorbitale, L. microcephalum, and L. wuchereri; details in Gans and Montero, 2008, and Ribeiro, 2010). Morphometrics: rostronasal length 24.4–28.7% of head length (rostral longer in L. infraorbitale and L. octostegum; shorter in L. bagual); rostronasal width 57.5–72.1% of maximum width of head (rostral wider in L. scutigerum); azygous shield length 36.2– 40.6% of head length (azygous longer in L. wuchereri; shorter in L. bagual); azygous shield width 27.4–40.5% of maximum width of head (azygous wider in L. octostegum and L. wuchereri); prefrontals length 36.8–40.2% of head length (longer prefrontals in L. microcephalum and L. wuchereri; shorter in L. bagual); prefrontals width 24.5–35.8% of maximum width of head (prefrontals wider in L. wuchereri; shorter in L. bagual); frontals length 19.2–23.7% of head length (frontals longer in L. wuchereri and L. bagual); temporal length 24.8–29.9% of head length (temporal longer in L. microcephalum and in L. wuchereri; shorter in L. bagual); midbody width 2.2–2.6% of snout–vent length (midbody wider in L. bagual and infraorbitale); and tail length 5.2– 6.5% of snout–vent length (tail longer in L. octostegum) (Table 1). Additionally, L. mineiro sp. nov. differs from other species of genus with precloacal pores in having three infralabials (two in L. cerradensis and L. polystegum); rostronasal and azygous shields in contact (separated by an irregular shield in L. polystegum); azygous shield with anterior margin almost straight (anterior margin rounded in L. kisteumacheri); 277–300 dorsal postpectoral half-annuli (> 290 in L. cerradensis and L. maximus; < 272 in L. kisteumacheri); 270–280 ventral postpectoral half-annuli (> 300 in L. cerradensis and L. maximus; < 260 in L. kisteumacheri); 15–16 tail annuli (12–14 in L. kisteumacheri); 26–30 dorsal segments in midbody half-annulus (> 31 in L. cerradensis); adult specimens in preservative with dorsal portion of body whitish (yellow in L. polystegum); three maxillary teeth (two in L. polystegum; four in L. cerradensis and L. kisteumacheri); six dentary teeth (five in L. polystegum); azygous shield length 36.2–40.6% of head length (azygous shorter in L. polystegum); prefrontals length 36.8–40.2% of head length (prefrontals longer in L. maximus and L. wuchereri); frontals length 19.2–23.7% of head length (frontals longer in L. kisteumacheri and L. polystegum); and tail length 5.2–6.5% of snout–vent length (tail longest in L. polystegum) (Table 1). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet mineiro is an adjective derived from the state of Minas Gerais, where the new species was collected. |
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