Mussurana, Mollov, 2009

Grazziotin, Hussam Zaher 1 Felipe Gobbi, Cadle, John E., Murphy, Robert W., Moura-Leite, Julio Cesar de & Bonatto, Sandro L., 2009, Molecular phylogeny of advanced snakes (Serpentes, Caenophidia) with an emphasis on South American Xenodontines: a revised classification and descriptions of new taxa, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 49 (11), pp. 115-153 : 145

Mussurana new genus

Type-specie: Oxyrhopus bicolor, Peracca, 1904 ).

Etymology: From Mosu- (indigenous Tupi, “eel”) + Rana (indigenous Tupi, “like or false”), gender feminine ( Amaral, 1974). Mussurana or Muçurana is a very common name in Latin America, applied mostly to the dark adults of pseudoboine snakes.

Diagnosis: Presence of ontogenetic changes in color pattern; juveniles with a brick red color, a black longitudinal vertebral band, and an uniformly creamish venter. Adults with dorsum entirely black; Hemipenis with a unique row of larger papillae on the internal face of the lobes; postero-ventral tip of the nasal gland longer than wide; dorsal wall of Duvernoy gland reduced along all its dorsal surface (Zaher, 1994b; 1999).

Content: Mussurana bicolor (Peracca, 1904) new combination; Mussurana montana (Franco, Marques & Puorto, 1997) new combination; Mussurana quimi (Franco, Marques & Puorto, 1997) new combination.

TRIBE PHILODRYADINI Cope, 1886 (Clade 48)

Philodryadinae Cope, 1886:491

Type-genus: Philodryas Wagler, 1830 .

Diagnosis: (93%, 6). Hemipenial body much longer than the lbes (more than twice the length), with the aulcate side of the hemipenial body covered with two parallel rows of enlarged body calyces on most or all its surface.

Content: Philodryas Wagler, 1830 (includes Pseudablabes Boulenger 1896 , and Xenoxybelis Machado 1993 ); Ditaxodon Hoge, 1958 .

Comments: Our concept of Philodryadini has a different concept than that used originally by Jenner (1983). The genera Pseudablables and Xenoxybelis are found nested within Philodryas and are thus synonymized here with the latter in order to retrieve a monophyletic group. Zaher (1999) provided hemipenial putative synapomorphies that supports the nesting of Xenoxybelis within Philodryas , as a possible member of his Philodryas olfersii group. Vidal et al. (2000) also found Xenoxybelis nested within Philodryas . Pseudablabes is, on the other hand, deeply nested in our analysis, forming a strongly supported clade with Philodryas patagoniensis (bootstrap 95%, Bremer support 5). However, a more detailed phylogenetic analysis of the newly extended genus Philodryas may show the necessity of a partition of the latter with some of the generic names synonymized here being applicable to the recovered monophyletic subunits. Although Ditaxodon is not part of the present molecular analysis, it has all putative morphological synapomorphies listed above for the Philodryadini (Zaher, 1999), and is thus included as a member of this tribe.

TRIBE CONOPHIINI new tribe