Taeniophallus nicagus (COPE, 1868)
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Taeniophallus nicagus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae, Echinantherini), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Lygophis nicagus COPE 1868: 132 Rhadinaea nicaga — COPE 1885: 102 Liophis undulatus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 180 Taeniophallus nicagus — MYERS & CADLE 1995 Taeniophallus nicagus — MYERS & MCDOWELL 2014: 41 Taeniophallus nicagus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 697 Taeniophallus nicagus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Suriname, Brazil (Pará, Amazonas), French Guiana Type locality: None given. “Brésil,” fide Jan and Sordelli, 1860-66: 11. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: unlocated, a 922 mm specimen (Wallach et al. 2014). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): “Taeniophallus can be recognize by (1) usually eight supralabials, with the 2nd–3rd or 2nd only touching the loreal and 3rd–5th touching the orbit; (2) 17/17/15 dorsal scale rows usually with one or two apical pits; (3) midventral portion immaculate; (4) hemipenis unilobed or slightly bilobed and unicapitate, with an asulcate interspinal gap interrupted by an enlarged central spine approximately at the midorgan; (5) sulcus spermaticus asymmetrically divided, with shortening of one of the branches (T. brevirostris) or undivided (T. nicagus); (6) a pair of nude pockets delimited by small spines immediately below the capitulum on the asulcate face (7) dorsolateral crests of the parietal bone inconspicuous close the contact with supraoccipital (Figures 5B,C, 7F and Table 1).” (Abegg et al. 2022) |
| Comment | Group: This genus corresponds to the brevirostris group of Taeniophallus (sensu Schargel et al., 2005). Although the type species is T. nicagus, the description of the genus was based on the morphology of the hemipenis of T. brevirostris (Myers, 1974). There has been some debate about species allocation to Taeniophallus. Not listed by GASC & RODRIGUES 1980. Most species of the genus have been assigned to Echinanthera until Abegg et al. 2022 re-assigned many species within the group fo various new genera (see also Echinanthera cyanopleura, the type species of Echinanthera). Distribution: Not listed for French Guiana by STARACE 1998. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Type species: Lygophis nicagus COPE 1868: 201 is the type species of the genus Taeniophallus COPE 1895. |
| Etymology | The genus was named after the Greek words ταινíα (taenia = band, fillet) and φαλλóς (phallus = penis) (Liddell and Scott, 1883; Brown, 1954). The genus name is masculine. |
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