Atractus michaelsabini, Arteaga & Quezada & Vieira & Guayasamin, 2022
publication ID |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1121.89539 |
publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:15C9C77E-6888-49BB-BC57-F7500EF2E06C |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E85C68A2-DAEF-4BC5-A6B3-6D1FEDEB9983 |
taxon LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:act:E85C68A2-DAEF-4BC5-A6B3-6D1FEDEB9983 |
treatment provided by |
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scientific name |
Atractus michaelsabini |
status |
sp. nov. |
Atractus michaelsabini View in CoL sp. nov.
Figs 8 View Figure 8 , 9 View Figure 9 , 10f-h Proposed standard English name: Michael Sabin’s Ground Snake. Proposed standard Spanish name: Culebra tierrera de Michael Sabin. View Figure 10
Atractus roulei Savage, 1960: 68 (part).
Atractus lehmanni Arteaga et al., 2017: 97.
Holotype.
ZSFQ 4938 (Figs 8 View Figure 8 , 9 View Figure 9 , 10g View Figure 10 ), adult male collected by Jorge Luis Romero at Corraleja, Azuay province, Ecuador (S3.3874, W79.22785; 2660 m).
Paratypes.
MZUTI 5289, adult female collected by Jorge Luis Romero at the type locality. AMARU 002 (Fig. 10f View Figure 10 ), adult female collected by Jorge Luis Romero at the type locality. ZSFQ 4939 (Fig. 10h View Figure 10 ), juvenile female collected by Jose Vieira and Amanda Quezada at El Panecillo, El Oro province, Ecuador (S3.46753, W79.48248; 2750 m). QCAZ 7887 and 7902, adult male and female collected by Silvia Aldás in December 2006 at Guanazán, El Oro province, Ecuador (S3.44667, W79.49051; 2663 m). QCAZ 9643 and 9652, adult females collected by Silvia Aldás in August 2009 at El Panecillo, El Oro province, Ecuador (S3.46753, W79.48248; 2775 m). DHMECN 7644-45, adult males collected by Mario Yánez-Muñoz, Luis Oyagata, Patricia Bejarano, and Marco Altamirano in March 2010 at Reserva Biológica Yunguilla, Azuay province, Ecuador (S3.22684, W79.27520; 1748 m). AMNH 18325, adult female collected in July 1920 at El Chiral, El Oro province, Ecuador (S3.63825, W79.59723; 1841 m). AMNH 22110-11, collected in August 1921 at La Chonta, El Oro province, Ecuador (S3.56585, W79.85144; 1025 m).
Diagnosis.
Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. is placed in the genus Atractus , as diagnosed by Savage (1960), based on phylogenetic evidence (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). The species is diagnosed based on the following combination of characters: (1) 15/15/15 smooth dorsals; (2) one postocular; (3) loreal 3 × longer than high; (4) temporals 1+2; (5) five or six supralabials, with (usually) third and fourth contacting orbit; (6) five or six infralabials, with (usually) first three contacting chinshields; (7) 9-13 maxillary teeth; (8) 1-3 rows of gular scales; (9) 1-3 preventrals; (10) 143-144 ventrals in males and 144-153 in females; (11) 24-31 subcaudals in males and 17-19 in females; (12) dorsal ground color golden yellow (Figs 8 View Figure 8 , 10f-g View Figure 10 ) to dark brown (Fig. 10h View Figure 10 ) with each scale outlined in black, forming a reticulation; (13) venter yellowish with various degrees of brown stippling (Fig. 8b View Figure 8 ); (14) 256-321 mm SVL in males and 201-392 mm SVL in females; (15) 35-42 mm TL in males and 21-37 mm TL in females.
Comparisons.
Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. is compared to other members of the A. roulei species group: Atractus carrioni and A. roulei . From A. carrioni , the new species differs in having a loreal scale (Fig. 9c View Figure 9 ) (absent in A. carrioni ). From A. roulei (Figs 10a-e View Figure 10 ), the new species differs in having a dorsal pattern in which each scale is outlined in a thin black line, thus creating a reticulation, and by having the prefrontal scale in broad contact with the postnasal (Fig. 9c View Figure 9 ) (not in contact or barely in contact in A. roulei ). Furthermore, the existence of the bright golden yellow morph in adult individuals has so far been recorded only in A. michaelsabini sp. nov.; not in A. roulei , where adults are dark brown dorsally (Fig. 10a-e View Figure 10 ). In A. roulei , there is a black spot at the base of each dorsal scale, whereas in A. michaelsabini sp. nov. the spot is at the tip of each dorsal scale and is connected to the black reticulum. Genetic divergence in a 578 bp long fragment of the mitochondrial CYTB gene between A. michaelsabini sp. nov. and A. roulei is 6.5-7.2%, whereas intraspecific distances are 0-4.5% in A. michaelsabini sp. nov. and 0-4.8% in A. roulei .
Description of holotype.
Adult male, SVL 256 mm, tail length 39 mm (15.2% SVL); body diameter 7.4 mm; head length 10.7 mm (3.1% SVL); head width 6.4 mm (2.5% SVL); interocular distance 3.7 mm; head slightly distinct from body; snout-orbit distance 3.5 mm; rostral 1.9 mm wide, ca. as broad as high; internasals 1.0 mm wide; prefrontals 2.0 mm wide; frontal 3.0 mm wide, with a curvilinear triangular shape in dorsal view; parietals 2.9 mm wide (65% length); nasal divided; loreal 2.2 mm long, ~ 3 × longer than high; eye diameter 1.4 mm; pupil round; supraoculars 1.3 mm wide; one postocular; temporals 1+2; five supralabials, third contacting orbit; symphysial 1.7 mm wide, ~ 3 × as broad as long, separated from chinshields by first pair of infralabials; five infralabials, first three contacting chinshields; chinshields ~ 2 × as long as broad, posterior chinshields absent; dorsal scales arranged in 15/15/15 rows, smooth without apical pits; no preventrals; ventrals 143; anal plate single; 31 paired subcaudals.
Natural history.
Most individuals of Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. have been found during the day hidden under rocks, mats of rotten vegetation, or buried in soft soil in pastures and maize plantations close to remnants of native forest. At night, they have been seen crossing forest trails. At the type locality, clutches of three or four eggs have been found under soil (Jorge Luis Romero, pers. comm.). Anecdotal information suggests that these snakes are more active during the rainy months (February-May at the type locality; Jorge Luis Romero, pers. comm.).
Distribution.
Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. is endemic to an estimated 2,530 km2 area along the Pacific slopes of the Andes in southwestern Ecuador. The species occurs in the xeric inter-Andean valley of the Río Jubones as well as on the slopes of the Cordillera de Chilla. Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. is known from provinces Azuay, El Oro, and Loja, and has been recorded at elevations between 927 and 2922 a.s.l. (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ).
Etymology.
The specific epithet Atractus michaelsabini is a patronym honoring a young nature lover, Michael Sabin, grandson of American philanthropist and conservationist Andrew “Andy” Sabin. The Sabin family is involved in conservation and field research of amphibians and reptiles and has protected over 264,365 acres of critical habitat throughout the world.
Conservation status.
We consider Atractus michaelsabini sp. nov. to be Endangered following the IUCN criteria B1a, b (i, iii) ( IUCN 2001), because the species’ extent of occurrence is estimated to be much less than 5,000 km2 (Fig. 2 View Figure 2 ) and its habitat is severely fragmented and declining in extent and quality due to deforestation. Although A. michaelsabini sp. nov. is present in two protected areas (private reserves Buenaventura and Yunguilla of Fundación Jocotoco), nine of the 14 localities where the species has been recorded (Suppl. material 1: Table S1) are in heavily human-modified areas. Based on maps of Ecuador’s vegetation cover ( MAE 2012), we estimate that nearly 70% of the forest cover throughout the species’ potential distribution area has been destroyed, mostly due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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Atractus michaelsabini
Arteaga, Alejandro, Quezada, Amanda, Vieira, Jose & Guayasamin, Juan M. 2022 |
Atractus roulei
Arteaga & Quezada & Vieira & Guayasamin 2022 |
Atractus lehmanni
Arteaga & Quezada & Vieira & Guayasamin 2022 |