Tropidophis paucisquamis (MÜLLER, 1901)
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Higher Taxa | Tropidophiidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Brazilian Dwarf Boa Portuguese: Jiboia-Anã, Jiboinha |
Synonym | Ungalia paucisquamis MÜLLER in SCHENKEL 1901 Ungalia brasiliensis ANDERSSON 1901 Tropidophis paucisquamis — STULL 1928: 19 Tropidophis paucisquamis — AMARAL 1930 Tropidophis paucisquamis — MACHADO 1944 Tropidophis paucisquamis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 221 Tropidophis paucisquamis — CURCIO et al. 2012: 92 Tropidophis paucisquamis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 755 Tropidophis paucisquamis — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Tropidophis paucisquamis — ORTEGA-ANDRADE et al. 2022 |
Distribution | SE Brazil (Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná) elevation 500-650 m Type locality: "Continent of Tropical America" [MÜLLER in SCHENKEL 1901]; restricted to municipality of Salesópolis, state of São Paulo, Brazil by CURCIO et al. 2012. brasiliensis: Type locality: "Brasilia" [ANDERSSON 1901] |
Reproduction | ovovivparous |
Types | Holotype: NMBA 426 (Naturhistorisches Museum Basel. Holotype: NRS 1932 [ANDERSSON 1901] |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Distinguishable from other mainland congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) 164–183 ventrals (vs. 154–155 in T. grapiuna, 146–160 in T. taczanowskyi, and 200 in T. battersbyi); (2) dorsal scales at midbody usually 21 or 23, rarely 25 (vs. 23 dorsals at midbody in all other mainland species); (3) vertebral scale row usually enlarged, wider than long (vs. vertebral scale row not distinctly enlarged in size relative to remaining dorsals in T. battersbyi, T. grapiuna, and T. taczanowskyi); (4) dorsals smooth or feebly keeled (vs. dorsals strongly keeled in T. grapiuna and T. taczanowskyi); (5) interparietals usually lacking, but small when present (vs. interparietals present in T. battersbyi and T. grapiuna, usually present in T. taczanowskyi, well developed in the three species); (6) parietals in broad contact along middorsal line of head, even when interparietals are present (vs. parietals fully separated by interparietals in T. battersbyi and T. grapiuna); (7) maxillary teeth 15–19 (vs. 12 in T. battersbyi); (8) body spotted, dorsal spots small, with a diameter of approximately two dorsals, and irregular in shape (vs. dorsal spots large, rounded or elliptical, up to four scales in diameter in T. battersbyi); and (9) eight spot rows around body six on dorsum and two on venter (vs. six spot rows around body, four on dorsum and two on venter in T. battersbyi) [CURCIO et al. 2012]. Additional details (5450 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
Comment | Synonymy that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). Distribution: see map in Ortega-Andrade et al. 2022: 5 (Fig. 1). |
Etymology | Named after Latin paucus, few, little + Latin squama, a scale. (Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) |
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