Sordellina punctata (PETERS, 1880)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Sordellina punctata?
Sordellina punctata
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae, Echinantherini), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Dotted Brown Snake Portuguese: Cobra-D’água, Cobra-Lisa, Cobra-Preta, Cobrinha-Preta-do-Litoral |
| Synonym | Xenodon punctatus PETERS 1880: 221 Pseudoxyrhopus punctatus — BOULENGER 1890 Pseudoxyrhopus punctatus — BOULENGER 1893: 317 Liophis rehi WERNER 1909: 223 Sordellina brandon-jonesii PROCTER 1923 Sordellina pauloensis AMARAL 1923: 88 Sordellina pauloensis AMARAL 1926: 104 Liophis rehi — AMARAL 1930: 22 Sordellina punctata — HOGE 1958: 52 Sordellina punctata — BAUER et al. 1995: 75 Sordellina punctata — GRAZZIOTIN et al. 2012 Sordellina punctata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 681 Sordellina punctata — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Brazil (coastal areas of Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo, Parana, Rio de Janeiro) Type locality: “Brasilien” rehi: Type locality: “Ypiranga bei S. Paulo, Brasilien” |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 9647 Holotype: lost fide Hoge 1958, was: ZMH [rehi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: “Sordellina punctata can be recognized by having (for additional characters, see Hoge and Romano, 1978; Miranda and Fernandes, 2012): (1) usually eight supralabials; (2) 17/17/17 dorsal scale rows, with no apical pits; (3) head dark brown in dorsal view with supralabials mottled with white or yellow; (4) dorsum uniformly dark brown to black; (5) hemipenis slightly bilobed, the lobular region covered by papillae with little or no tissue interconnection; (6) 11–14 prediastemal maxillary teeth and two postdiastemal teeth; (7) dorsolateral crests of the parietal conspicuous and smoothly tapered in the posterior region, close to the contact with supraoccipital (Figures 4F, 5F).” (Abegg et al. 2022) |
| Comment | Synonymy that of Hoge 1958 and PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. BOULENGER (1890) thought that Xenodon punctatus is a member of Pseudoxyrhopus and its origin is from Madagascar. Note that Amaral described Sordellina pauloensis as a new species in two independent papers, published in 1923 and 1926. Distribution: One record from Mato Grosso do Sul is doubtful (Miranda & Fernandes 2012). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Type species: Sordellina brandon-jonesii Procter 1923 = Xenodon punctatus PETERS 1880: 221 is the type species of the genus Sordellina PROCTER 1923. |
| Etymology | Probably named after the white spots on many scales, at leas tin some specimens. The genus was named after Ferdinando Sordelli (1837–1916), Italian artist and naturalist, “for whose beautiful work in the ‘Iconographie Générale des Ophidiens’ all workers at snakes will ever be grateful” (Procter, 1923). The genus name is feminine. Liophis rehi was named after the collector, a certain “Reh”. |
| References |
|
| External links |