Salvadora deserticola Schmidt 1940

Hernández-Jiménez, Carlos A., Flores-Villela, Oscar, Aguilar-Bremauntz, Aranzazú & Campbell, Jonathan A., 2021, Phylogenetic relationships based on morphological data and taxonomy of the genus Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853 (Reptilia, Colubridae), European Journal of Taxonomy 764 (1), pp. 85-118 : 95-97

Salvadora deserticola Schmidt 1940

Fig. 6

Salvadora hexalepis deserticola Schmidt, 1940: 146 , fig. 14.

Salvadora hexalepis celeris Smith, 1941: 9 , fig. 6.

Diagnosis

Rostral scale well developed, elongated and with free edges; 9 supralabials, two or rarely three in contact with the eye (generally the fifth and sixth in contact); 11 infralabials; preocular scale divided; a single loreal; prenasal in contact with the second supralabial; a second pair of chinshields separated by two rows of scales; 180–205 ventrals; 66–87 subcaudals; tail is 19 to 23.5% of the total length; maxillary teeth normally 11+ 3. Color pattern consists of a pale vertebral stripe, five scales wide on the anterior third of the body and three scales wide on the rest of the body, flanked by a pair of dark dorsolateral lines located on the sixth and seventh row and separated from the lateral lines by at least one row of scales; lateral lines begin on the fourth row or on the margins of the third and fourth rows of dorsal scales. Lateral and dorsolateral lines fused on the neck.

Differs from the other species in the genus by having a single loreal, usually not divided; tail shorter (less than 24% of the total length) and fewer subcaudal scales.

Etymology

The species name is derived from the Latin words ‘ desertum ’, which means ‘desert’, and ‘ icola ’, which means ‘inhabitant’, in reference to the habitat at the type locality.

Type material examined

UNITED STATES • ♂, holotype of Salvadora hexalepis deserticola ; Texas, Brewster County, Government Spring, close to the Chisos Mountains; 6 Oct. 1935; Tom Carney leg.; FMNH 26615 .

MEXICO • ♀, holotype of Salvadora hexalepis celeris ; Sinaloa, San Blas ; 28 Mar. 1910; J.N. Rose leg.; USNM 40043 .

Distribution and conservation

Southwestern Texas, southwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona, southward on each flank of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Sinaloa ( Fig. 6 ).

It is found in at least two protected natural areas in Sonora. Mexican legislation has not listed this species and the IUCN has it listed as a species of Least Concern.

Figures

Fig. 6. Locality records of Salvadora deserticola Schmidt, 1940.