A new species of Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 from the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Abstract

We describe a new species of Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 from the highlands of Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from all currently recognized congeners by a unique combination of states of characters on coloration, scale counts, scale ornamentation, and hemipenis. The new species closely resembles Chironius flavolineatus (Jan, 1863) in color pattern, but differs from the later taxon by the presence of two to four posterior temporal scales; cloacal shield entire; six to ten rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody; ventral scales with posterior dark edges forming conspicuous transverse bars along almost the entire venter; conspicuous dark longitudinal stripes (in "zigzag") in the midventral portion of subcaudals; region of medial constriction of hemipenis slightly covered with spinules separating calyces of apex from spines below region of constriction; and sulcus spermaticus situated on convex face of hemipenis in lateral view. The new species is apparently restricted to Chapada Diamantina, corroborating the biological importance of this region from a conservational perspective.

Composition and natural history notes of the coastal snake assemblage from Northern Bahia, Brazil

“…The number of snake species from the northern coast of Bahia represents 38% of all species known from the state of Bahia (Hamdan and Lira-da-Silva 2012, Curcio et al 2012, Fernandes and Hamdan 2014) and contains six families. Disregarding the mistaken record of Bothrops jararaca by Marques et al (2011), we recorded 49 native species in the study region.…”

“…Unfortunately, the Atlantic forest in northeastern Brazil is represented by few studies only (Argôlo 2004, Santana et al 2008, Morato et al 2011, França et al 2012), rendering a regional study, such as the one presented herein, the more important. A total of 131 snake species are currently known from the state of Bahia (Hamdan and Lira-da-Silva 2012, Curcio et al 2012, Fernandes and Hamdan 2014), but there is a lack of detailed studies. Argôlo (2004) provides the most complete compilation of the snake assemblage of the Atlantic forest in southern Bahia, reporting species from different forested, disturbed and open habitats.…”

Taxonomic revision of the genus Xenopholis Peters, 1869 (Serpentes: Dipsadidae): Integrating morphology with ecological niche

“…There are possibly many more snake species sharing similar disjunct ranges, if we consider taxa still not assessed in detail through representative samples and/or based on the analysis of several character systems (i.e., phenotype and molecular evidence), including: Imantodes cenchoa, Sibon nebulata and Siphlophis compressus [13,23]; Thamndynastes pallidus [108]; Spilotes sulphureus [109]; Xenodon rhabdocephalus [110]; and Bothrops bilineatus [95]. On the other hand, many of these taxa can be potentially separated in more than one species restricted to a single ecoregion, as occurred with Chironius multiventris + Dendrophidion dendrophis (restricted to Amazonia) and Chironius foveatus + Dendrophidion atlantica (restricted to Atlantic Forest) [111,112]. The pattern from snakes' distribution (including sister species), still enlightening to reinforce a recent contact with faunistic exchanges between Amazonia and Atlantic Forest.…”

New records and range expansion of Chironius carinatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes, Colubridae) from the state of Paraíba, northeast Brazil

“…The genus Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 currently includes 22 species distributed from Central America (Honduras and Saint Vincent in the Caribbean Sea) to southern South America in Uruguay (Dixon et al 1993;Hollis 2006). This genus is characterized by the presence of a relatively low and even number (10 or 12) of dorsal scale rows at midbody (Dixon et al 1993;Hollis 2006;Kok 2010). In Brazil, 15 species are currently recognized: Chironius bicarinatus (Wied, 1820), C.…”