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Ninia schmidti (Jan, 1862) Ninia guytudori Arteaga & Harris, 2023 |
Abstract
We describe a new species of Ninia Baird & Girard, 1853 endemic to the cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador. The new species has previously been confused with N. atrata (Hallowell, 1845) and N. teresitae (Angarita-Sierra and Lynch 2017) but is genetically most closely related to a third species of Ninia endemic to the Chocoan–Tumbesian transition area of western Ecuador. We revalidate the name N. schmidti (Jan, 1862), designate a neotype, and provide a diagnosis of the taxon and a description of its hemipenial morphology based on new material. The new and revalidated species can easily be identified from one another and from other trans-Andean South American Ninia based on ventral and subcaudal scale counts, hemipenial morphology, and coloration of the supralabials, throat, and belly. Finally, we remove N. atrata from the herpetofaunal list of Ecuador.
Key Words: Dipsadidae, coffee snakes, snake, Squamata, taxonomy
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| Dorsal and lateral views of the head in two species of Ninia: (a, b) Ninia guytudori sp. nov. JMG 1327; (c, d) N. guytudori sp. nov. SC 005; (e, f) N. schmidti comb. nov. SC 095; (g, h) N. schmidti comb. nov. SCA 1374. |
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| Lateral views of some specimens of Ninia from western Ecuador in life: (a) N. schmidti comb. nov. SCA 1446 from Buenaventura Reserve, El Oro province; (b) Ninia guytudori sp. nov. from Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve, Pichincha province. Photos by Jose Vieira. |
Ninia guytudori sp. nov.
Proposed standard English name: Tudors’s Coffee-Snake.
Proposed standard Spanish name: Culebra cafetera de Tudor.
Diagnosis: Ninia guytudori sp. nov. is placed in the genus Ninia, as diagnosed by Dunn (1935), based on phylogenetic evidence (Fig. 1). The species is diagnosed based on the following combination of characters: (1) 19/19/19 keeled dorsals; (2) two postoculars or none in SC 005; (3) loreal 1.6–1.7 × longer than high; (4) temporals 1+2; (5) seven or eight supralabials, usually fourth and fifth contacting orbit; (6) seven or eight infralabials, first four or five contacting chin shields; (7) two rows of chin shields; (8) two or three preventrals; (9) 130–138 ventrals in males, 144 in the single female; (10) 48–51 subcaudals in males, 44 in the single female; (11) dorsal ground color uniformly black with a white nuchal collar that connects to a white lip band forming a bridle (Fig. 6); (12) ventral surfaces uniformly immaculate white (Fig. 3b); (13) 181–243 mm SVL in males, 183 mm in the single female; (14) 30–58 mm CL in males, 35 in the single female.
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| Photographs of some specimens of Ninia guytudori sp. nov. in life: (a) from Río Manduriacu Reserve, Imbabura province; (b) from Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve, Pichincha province. Photos by Jose Vieira. |
Alejandro Arteaga and Kyle J. Harris. 2023. A New Species of Ninia (Serpentes, Colubridae) from western Ecuador and Revalidation of N. schmidti. Evolutionary Systematics. 7(2): 317-334. DOI: 10.3897/evolsyst.7.112476
