Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 1969 No. 1: 5 Jan. 2009
Type: Article
Published: 2009-01-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1969.1.3
Page range: 59–68
Abstract views: 50
PDF downloaded: 1

Rediscovery and redescription of the Andean earth-snake Atractus wagleri (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae)

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Departamento de Vertebrados, Quinta da Boa Vista, 20940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Museo de Herpetología Universidad de Antioquia, Instituto de Biología, Universidad de Antioquia, Apartado 1226, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Reptilia Atractus wagleri Colombia Cordillera Oriental hemipenis taxonomy

Abstract

Atractus wagleri was described based on a single specimen from Humbo, Department of Boyacá on the western Cordillera Oriental of Colombia, and since its original description there is no further record for the species. In the course of examination of Colombian collections the holotype of the Atractus wagleri could not be found and it is probable that it was lost, but we found three additional specimens of this poorly known snake from localities relatively close to the type locality. In this paper, we describe these specimens, and report data on meristics, morphometrics, and hemipenial variation for the species.

References

  1. Dowling, H.G. (1951). A proposed standard system of counting ventrals in snakes. British Journal of Herpetology, 1, 97–99.

    Dowling, H.G. & Savage, J.M. (1960). A guide to the snake hemipenis: a survey of basic structure and systematic characteristics. Zoologica, 45, 17–28.

    Giraudo, A.R. & Scrocchi, G.J. (2000). The genus Atractus (Serpentes: Colubridae) in Northeastern Argentina. Herpetological Journal, 10, 81–90.

    Merem, F. (1965). Biliografia comentada de reptiles colombianos. Revista de la Académia Colombiana de Ciencias Físicas, Exactas y Naturales, 12, 299–346.

    Myers, C.W. (2003). Rare snakes–five new species from eastern Panama: reviews of northern Atractus and southern Geophis (Colubridae: Dipsadinae). American Museum Novitates, 3391, 1–47.

    Myers, C.W. & Campbell, J.A. (1981). A new genus and species of colubrid snake from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero, Mexico. American Museum Novitates, 2708, 1–20.

    Passos, P. (2008). Revisão taxonômica do gênero Atractus Wagler, 1828 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Dipsadinae). Ph.D. Thesis, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 671 pp.

    Passos, P., Cisneros-Heredia, D. F. & Salazar-V, D. (2007a). Rediscovery and redescription of the rare andean snake Atractus modestus. Herpetological Journal, 17, 1–6.

    Passos, P., Fernandes, D.S. & Borges-Nojosa, D.M. (2007b). A new Species of Atractus (Serpentes: Dipsadinae) from a Relictual Forest in Northeasten Brazil. Copeia, 2007, 788–797.

    Passos, P. & Fernandes, R. (2008). A new species of the colubrid snake genus Atractus (Reptilia: Serpentes) from the central Amazon of Brazil. Zootaxa, 1849:59–66.

    Passos, P., Fernandes, R. & Zanella, N. (2005). A new species of Atractus (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Southern Brazil. Herpetologica, 61, 209–218.

    Pesantes, O. (1994). A method for preparing hemipenis of preserved snakes. Journal of Herpetology, 28, 93–95.

    Pérez-Santos, C. & Moreno, A. G. (1988). Ofidios de Colombia. Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturale de Torino, Monografie, 6, 1–512.

    Prado, A. (1945). Um novo Atractus de Colombia. Ciencia (Mexico), 6, 61.

    Savage, J.M. (1960). A revision of the Ecuadorian snakes of the genus Atractus. Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 112, 1–86.

    Zaher, H. (1999). Hemipenial morphology of the South American xenodontine snakes, with a proposal for a monophyletic Xenodontinae and a reappraisal of colubroid hemipenes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 240, 1–168.