Leaving no stone unturned: three additional new species of Atractus ground snakes (Serpentes, Colubridae) from Ecuador discovered using a biogeographical approach

Abstract

The genus Atractus includes 146 species of cryptozoic snakes occurring from Panama to northeastern Argentina. Here, a molecular phylogeny of this genus is presented, which encompasses 29% (= 42; six are included here for the first time) of the species currently recognized. Morphological and phylogenetic support is found for three new species of ground snakes, which are described here based on their unique combination of molecular, meristic, and color pattern characteristics. The name A. arangoi Prado, 1939 is revalidated for a Colombian snake species previously subsumed under A. major Boulenger, 1894 based on new material collected in Ecuador. Reidentifications are provided for Atractus voucher specimens and sequences deposited in GenBank. With these changes, the number of Atractus reported in Ecuador increases from 27 to 31 species. Finally, attention is given to the importance of using a biogeographical framework that includes molecular data and a comprehensive geographic sampling when proposing species limits in complex taxonomic groups.

First national assessment of wildlife mortality in Ecuador: An effort from citizens and academia to collect roadkill data at country scale

“…snakes. In a survey conducted in 2014, Medrano‐Vizcaíno and Espinosa ( 2021 ) found two roadkilled individuals attributed to the genus Atractus in Napo, which were latter described as new species (described by Melo‐Sampaio et al, 2021 ; Arteaga et al, 2022 ). Road ecology research in areas with poorly known and undescribed species would be valuable, both to quantify impacts but also to strengthen our understanding of these species.…”

First national assessment of wildlife mortality in Ecuador: an effort from citizens and academia to collect roadkill data at country scale.

“…snakes. In a survey conducted in 2014, Medrano-Vizcaíno & Espinosa (2021), found two roadkilled individuals attributed to the genusAtractus in Napo that were latter described as new species (described by Melo-Sampaio et al, 2021;Arteaga et al, 2022). Road ecology research in areas with poorly-known and undescribed species would be valuable, both to quantify impacts but also to potential expand our understanding of these species.…”

A taxonomic re-assessment of Oligodon cinereus (Günther, 1864) (Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae) populations from southern Indochina

“…Kukri snakes of the genus Oligodon Fitzinger, 1826 are a highly diverse group of colubrid snakes distributed across Asia presently containing 90 recognized species (Nguyen et al 2022;Uetz et al 2022), making it the second largest snake genus in the world, exceeded only by the neotropical earthsnake genus Atractus Wagner, 1828 (Arteaga et al 2022;Passos et al 2022;Uetz et al 2022). Despite being one of the most species-rich snake clades in the world, most members are poorly studied because of their secretive behavior.…”