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| Apostolepis kikoi
Martins dos Santos, Entiauspe-Neto, Silva Araújo, Souza, Lema, Strussmann & Albuquerque, 2018
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Abstract
During a faunal rescue conducted at a hydroelectric power station constructed in a Cerrado savanna area in the state of Mato Grosso, a sample of five small stripe-patterned individuals of snakes of the genus Apostolepis Cope, 1862 document the existence of an undescribed species, which is named herein. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of scale counts, number of maxillary teeth and color pattern. The new species is most similar to Apostolepis borellii Peracca, 1904, A. lineata Cope, 1887, A. nelsonjorgei Lema & Renner, 2004, A. nigroterminata Boulenger, 1896, A. serrana Lema & Renner, 2006 and A. underwoodi Lema & Campbell, 2017 in its coloration pattern. However, it is distinguished from these species by having a pair of triangular blotches covering portions of the third to sixth supralabials, a white nuchal collar, the shape of the fourth supralabial and the shape of the tip of tail, the number of supralabials in contact with parietals, the size of the anterior chinshields, the color pattern of the paraventral side, parietal and terminal scales, the width of dorsal stripes, and a distinct number of subcaudals. The new species occurs in areas within the Cerrado biome.
Key words: Biodiversity, Cerrado, Chapada dos Guimarães, Elapomorphini, taxonomy
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| Figure 1. Line drawings from holotype of Apostolepis kikoi sp. nov. (MCP 12096) from the reservoir of Manso hydroelectrical power plant, Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Scale bar: 2 mm (Eduardo Melloni Lucchesi del.). |
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| Figure 2–5. (2) Holotype of Apostolepis kikoi sp. nov. (MCP 12096) from the reservoir of Manso hydroelectrical power plant, Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil (photo by Marcos Di Bernardo). (3) Lateral view of holotype (preserved) of Apostolepis kikoi sp. nov. (MCP 12096) from the reservoir of Manso hydroelectrical power plant, Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil (photo by Marcos Di Bernardo). Dorsal (4) and lateral (5) views of the specimen of Apostolepis nigroterminata (UFAC 504) from Campus Universitário da Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil (photo by Danyella Paiva da Silva). |
Apostolepis kikoi sp. nov.
Apostolepis sp. – Strüssmann 2000: 163. [Cresonymy]
Apostolepis sp. 1 – Martins and Lema 2015: 102; Lema and Renner 2016: 71. [Cresonymy]
Apostolepis sp. 3 – Martins and Lema 2015: 102 (partim). [Cresonymy]
Apostolepis aff. borellii – Lema and Campbell 2017: 28 (partim). [Cresonymy]
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Etymology: The specific epithet honors Francisco Luís Franco (“Kiko”), a specialist in Brazilian snakes, as a tribute to his relentless friendship, dedication and enthusiasm as curator of Herpetological Collection Alphonse Richard Hoge of Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil (partially and tragically destroyed by fire on 15 May 2010).
Fernanda Martins dos Santos, Omar Machado Entiauspe-Neto, Jailini da Silva Araújo, Moisés Barbosa de Souza, Thales de Lema, Christine Strussmann and Nelson Rufino de Albuquerque. 2018. A New Species of Burrowing Snake (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Apostolepis) from the State of Mato Grosso, Central-West Region of Brazil. Zoologia. 35: 1-10. DOI: 10.3897/zoologia.35.e26742
