Salvadora hexalepis virgultea ( Bogert, 1935 )

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 : 101-102

Salvadora hexalepis virgultea ( Bogert, 1935)

Fig. 9

Salvadora grahamiae virgultea Bogert, 1935: 89 .

Diagnosis

Nine supralabials, the sixth or the fifth and sixth in contact with the eye; 10–11 infralabials; suboculars absent; 188–200 ventral scales; 84–103 subcaudal scales; tail 21 to 26% of the total length; maxillary teeth 10+3. A pale vertebral line three rows of scales wide is in contact with the parietal region, bordered by a pair of dorsolateral lines brown in color, five rows of scales wide extending from the temporal region to the tip of the tail. At about midbody the lateral line gives rise to a thinner lateral line that is one row of scales wide.

Salvadora h. klauberi differs in having 12 + 3 maxillary teeth; in S. h. mojavensis suboculars separate the supralabials from the lower edge of the eye; S. h. hexalepis sometimes also lacks suboculars and has a single supralabial in contact with the eye similar to S. h. virgultea, but it differs in its color pattern (in S. h. virgultea the vertebral line involves three scale rows; the head is brown, and a lateral line is not distinguishable). In S. h. hexalepis the vertebral line is up to five scale rows wide; the head is gray; and the lateral line at midbody is completely separated from the dorsolateral line.

Etymology

From the Latin ‘ virgultus ’, meaning ‘covered with scrub’, for the habitat in which the taxon occurs.

Type material examined

UNITED STATES • ♂; California, San Diego County; 32.67778° N, 116.72709° W; 29 Jun. 1929; Deerhorn Flat leg.; SDSNH 12025 .

Distribution

Regions adjacent to the Pacific coast and adjacent foothills in southwestern California, southward to the southern portion of Baja California, where is it parapatric with S. h. kaluberi ( Fig. 9 ).

Figures

Fig. 9. Locality records of Salvadora hexalepis (Cope, 1866) and its subspecies. Blue dots represent S. h. mojavensis Bogert, 1945; yellow dots S. h. virgultea Bogert, 1935; red dots S. h. hexalepis (Cope, 1866) and green dots S. h. klauberi Bogert, 1945.