Epictia magnamaculata ( Taylor 1940 )

Pinto, Roberta Richard, Passos, Paulo, Portilla, José Rances Caicedo, Arredondo, Juan Camilo & Fernandes, Ronaldo, 2010, Taxonomy of the Threadsnakes of the tribe Epictini (Squamata: Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) in Colombia, Zootaxa 2724, pp. 1-28 : 22-24

Epictia magnamaculata ( Taylor 1940)

Fig. 13

Leptotyphlops magnamaculata Taylor 1940 [dated 1939], University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 26(15):540.

Leptotyphlops albifrons magnamaculata— Dunn & Saxe 1950, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 102:159–161.

Leptotyphlops goudotii magnamaculatus— Peters & Orejas-Miranda 1970, Bulletin of the United States of National Museum, 297:169–170.

Leptotyphlops phenops— Wilson & Hahn 1973, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, 17(2):120.

Leptotyphlops goudotii magnamaculatus— Hahn 1980, Das Tierreich, 101:15.

Leptotyphlops goudotii magnamaculatus— McDiarmid, Campbell & Touré 1999, Snake Species of the World, 1:30–32.

Epictia magnamaculata— Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch in Adalsteisson et al. 2009, Zootaxa, 2244:11.

Holotype. USNM 54760, collected by F.J. Dyer in April 9, 1916, from Útila Island (16o 06’N, 0 86o 55’W), Honduras.

Diagnosis. Epictia magnamaculata is distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: snout slightly truncate in dorsal and ventral view, rounded in lateral view; supraocular present, not in contact with first supralabial; first supralabial longer, reaching eye level; rostral scale subtriangular in dorsal view; ocular hexagonal with straight shape at the eye level; supraocular longer than frontal scale; temporal indistinct; fused caudals absent; two supralabials (1+1); four infralabials; 245–262 middorsal scales; 237–246 midventral scales; 15–18 subcaudal scales; 10 scales around the middle of tail; seven dorsal scale rows dark brown in the centre of scales with paler border forming longitudinal zig-zag lines; seven lateroventral scale rows brown in the centre of scales with border lighter forming soft zig-zag lines; gular region paler than venter.

Variation. Middorsal scales 245–262 (x¯ = 252.6 ± 4.9, n = 12); midventral scales 237–246 (x¯ = 240.3 ± 4.0, n = 4); subcaudal scales 15–18 (x¯ = 16.8 ± 1.1, n = 13); TL 98–195 mm (x¯ = 154.5 ± 28.3, n = 12); TL/TAL ratio 14.1–21.0 (x¯ = 16.9 ± 1.8, n = 12); TAL 4.8–7.1% of TL (x¯ = 6.0 ± 0.0, n = 12); TL/MB ratio 52.7–61.5 (x¯ = 57.9 ± 3.7, n = 4); TAL/MT ratio 2.8–4.0 (x¯ = 3.5 ± 0.6, n = 4); relative eye diameter 1.3–2.5 (x¯ = 1.9 ± 0.5, n = 4); rostral width 0.4–0.5 (x¯ = 0.4 ± 0.0, n = 4).

Distribution. In Colombia, known form the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina in the Providencia (13º20’56”N 81º22’29”) and San Andrés (12º35’N 81º42’W) islands ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Geographic distribution of species of the tribe Epictini in Colombia. Type localities correspond to white symbols.

FIGURE 13. Dorsal (A), lateral (B) and ventral (C) views of head of the Epictia magnamaculata (ICN 2629).