Status of Apostolepis borellii Peracca 1904 (Serpentes, Xenodontinae), with restriction of the A. nigroterminata concept

Abstract

Apostolepis borellii has been considered a junior synonym of A. nigroterminata. However, examination of the holotypes showed significant differences between the species, such as head narrow (vs. wide, stocky), slandering snout (vs. wide and rounded), background color brown (vs. red), black nuchal collar wide, reaching the gular region (vs. short, not reaching gular region), tail extremity slandering with conic tip (vs. stocky, rounded tip), tail blotch complete reaching dorsals and subcaudals (vs. only dorsal, with white ring anteriorly). Apostolepis borellii occurs in the Cerrado, while A. nigroterminata, in the Amazonian Forest, two diverse biomes. The former may constitute a new group of small sized species, own from central-western Brazil to Bolivia; the latter is allocated in the nigrolineata group, both presented herein.Keywords: Brazil, Peru, Cerrado, Amazonian Forest, revalidation. ResumoApostolepis borellii tem sido considerada sinônimo de A. nigroterminata. No entanto, o exame dos holótipos mostrou diferenças significativas justificando a revalidação da primeira. Principais diferenças: cabeça estreita (vs. robusta), focinho afilado (vs. largo e arredondado), cor de fundo dorsal parda (vs. avermelhada), colar preto nucal largo atingindo a região gular, onde se alarga bastante (vs. vestigial, quase indistinto, não atinge região gular), extremidade caudal afinando com ponta cônica (vs. grossa, ponta alta, arredondada), mancha caudal e sendo completa atingindo dorsais e subcaudais (vs. apenas dorsal precedida de anel branco). Apostolepis borellii ocorre no Cerrado, enquanto A. nigroterminata, na Floresta Amazônica, dois biomas distintos. A primeira pode representar um novo grupo de espécies pequenas e próprias do Brasil central para oeste na Bolívia; e a última é realocada no grupo nigrolineata, ambos aqui apresentados.Palavras-chave: Brasil, Peru, Cerrado, Floresta Amazônica, revalidação.

A new species of burrowing snake (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Apostolepis) from the state of Mato Grosso, Central-West region of Brazil

“…The specimens collected in Rio Branco (UFAC 397, UFAC 504) extend the geographic distribution of A. nigroterminata about 760 km northeastward from Callaria. In particular, the specimen depicted in Figs 4-5 matches the original description of Boulenger (1896) and that given by Lema and Renner (2016) in most details of scalation and color pattern of this species (see Table 2). Two other species of Apostolepis -A. lineata and A. vittatawere also described from Chapada dos Guimarães (Cope 1887).…”

“…More recently, Lema (2002aLema ( ,b, 2003a, and Ferrarezzi et al (2005), respectively, described A. albicollaris from Brasília, Distrito Federal, A. christineae from Barra do Bugres, presently Porto Estrela, Mato Grosso, A. cerradoensis from Minaçú, Goiás, and A. ammodites from Palmas, Tocantins, whereas Lema and Renner (2006) and Lema (2016) described two new species from Serra do Roncador, Mato Grosso, A. serrana and A. roncadori, respectively. Additionally, Martins and Lema (2015) and Lema and Renner (2016) removed A. borellii from the synonymy of A. nigroterminata.…”

“…nov. can be distinguished from A. nigroterminata by having a triangular blotch covering portions of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth supralabials (vs. an irregular blotch on the posterior margin of the third to the anterior margin of the fourth supralabial -see also Harvey 1999: 401, fig. 7 in Lema and Renner 2016, and Figs 4-5 below), a blackish blotch on rostral scale adjacent to anterior border of prefrontals (vs. blotch absent), darker parietals (vs. light blotches irregularly distributed on parietal scales) and a distinct number of maxillary teeth (4 + 2 vs. 3 + 2). Further, it differs from A. nigroterminata in having its background color beige (in living specimens) (vs. background color red-orange); paravertebrals distinct (vs. paravertebrals indistinct); first and fifth stripes wider, covering upper half of third and lower half of fourth row on each side (vs. first and fifth stripes also wider, but covering first and about 50% of fourth row of scales on each side).…”

“…Harvey's (1999) placement of A. borellii in the synonymy of A. nigroterminata resulted in the inclusion of the latter species in a former Brazilian list of reptiles (see Costa and Bérnils 2015). However, it should be noted that Harvey's (1999) nomenclatural act was based on the analysis of the holotype of Lema and Renner (2016) removed A. borellii from the synonymy of A. nigroterminata and restricted the distribution of the latter to some localities in Peru. However, these authors also listed a specimen of A. nigroterminata from "Brazil: Acre: Rio Branco" in Appendix as "UFAC w/n".…”

“…The species was also included in an updated list of Brazilian reptiles and referred to occur in the states of Acre, Mato Grosso, and Pará (Costa and Bérnils 2018). Besides the unvouchered mention to Acre in Lema and Renner (2016), presented a picture of a specimen from Acre without a clear locality description or voucher number, which also provides little evidence for the occurrence of this species in Brazil. The record for Pará is also unvouchered (Maschio et al 2012), while the specimen (UFMT 10672) from Nobres, Mato Grosso, referred to the species by Santos et al (2011) was examined and is reidentified here as Apostolepis sp.…”