Brachyophidium Wall, 1921

Szyndlar, Zbigniew & Georgalis, Georgios L., 2023, An illustrated atlas of the vertebral morphology of extant non-caenophidian snakes, with special emphasis on the cloacal and caudal portions of the column, Vertebrate Zoology 73, pp. 717-886 : 717

Brachyophidium Wall, 1921

Material examined.

Brachyophidium rhodogaster Wall, 1921 (MCZ Herp R-18073).

Description (Figs 43-44).

Trunk vertebrae. Centrum elongate; neural arch depressed; posterior median notch of the neural arch absent or very shallow; neural spine vestigial and restricted to the posteriormost part of the neural arch, disappearing in mid- and posterior trunk vertebrae; high-angled prezygapophyses; prezygapophyseal accessory processes moderate in length; zygosphene narrow with strongly concave margins in dorsal view; hypapophyses spine-like, disappearing at the level of V 40 to V 50; moderately developed flattened haemal keel appears on posterior trunk vertebrae; paracotylar foramina absent; an asymmetrical subcentral foramen can be occasionally present.

Trunk / caudal transition. The haemal keel becomes progressively larger in the last trunk to anterior cloacal portion of the column, eventually developing into a prominent hypapophysis in posterior cloacal and all following caudal vertebrae.

Number of vertebrae. Brachyophidium rhodogaster (MCZ Herp R-18073):?145 (?133+3+9+; a few anterior trunk vertebrae lacking).

Data from literature: Brachyophidium rhodogaster : 138-143 trunk and cloacal vertebrae plus 9-12 caudal vertebrae ( Alexander and Gans 1966).