 |
| Amphisbaena amethysta Ribeiro, Santos, Martins, Oliveira, Graboski, Barbosa Da Silveira, Benício & Vaz-Silva, 2024 |
Abstract
A new species of Amphisbaena is described from the north of Espinhaço Mountain Range, municipality of Caetité, state of Bahia, Brazil. Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) snout convex in profile, slightly compressed not keeled; (2) pectoral scales arranged in regular annuli; (3) four precloacal pores; (4) distinct cephalic shields; (5) 185–199 dorsal half-annuli; (6) 13–16 caudal annuli; (7) conspicuous autotomic site between 4th–6th caudal annuli; (8) 16–21 dorsal and ventral segments at midbody; (9) 3/3 supralabials; (10) 3/3 infralabials; and (11) smooth and rounded tail tip. The new species is the 71st species of genus with four precloacal pores, and the 22nd species from the Caatinga morphoclimatic domain. The identification of Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. indicates that the reptile fossorial fauna in the Espinhaço Mountain Range region is far from being completely known and that it may harbour a much greater diversity of endemic taxa.
Key words: Morphology, new species, phylogeny, taxonomy
 |
| Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. in life (not identified specimen of type series) A lateral view and B dorsal. Photograph by Thiago Barbosa Da Silveira. |
 |
| Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. (Holotype, CEPB 2311) A dorsal B lateral, and C ventral views of head. Scale bar: 3 mm. |
Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov.
Diagnosis and comparisons with other south American amphisbaenians:
Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. is a medium-sized amphisbaenid (258 mm maximum snout-vent length), and can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters (see details in Table 1): (1) snout convex in profile view, slightly compressed not keeled; (2) pectoral scales arranged in regular annuli; (3) four precloacal pores; (4) distinct cephalic shields; (5) 185–199 dorsal half-annuli; (6) 13–16 caudal annuli; (7) conspicuous autotomic site between 4th–6th caudal annuli; (8) 16–21 dorsal and ventral segments at midbody; (9) 3/3 supralabials; (10) 3/3 infralabials; and (11) smooth and rounded tail tip.
Amphisbaena amethysta sp. nov. differs from Amphisbaena acrobeles (Ribeiro, Castro-Mello & Nogueira, 2009), A. bilabialata (Stimson, 1972), A. kingi (Bell, 1833), A. anomala, Mesobaena huebneri Mertens, 1925; M. rhachicephala Hoogmoed, Pinto, Rocha & Pereira, 2009; and all Leposternon species, mainly in having the snout convex in profile ...
Etymology: The specific epithet refers to the mineral amethyst that is a type of quartz and also the name of the region of the type locality “Brejinho das Ametistas”, a district located south of the municipality of Caetité, state of Bahia. This region has been an amethyst mining centre since the beginning of the 20th century. Spix and Martius (1938) defined the mineral from the “Brejinho das Ametistas” mines as “the beautiful amethysts” on their trip through the “Alto Sertão” of Bahia at the beginning of the 19th century (Cotrim 2015). The region currently has an economy based on mining and energy activities focused on wind energy production. The type series was collected during the execution of environmental programs within the scope of Bahia Mineração (BAMIN), which operates in the exploration of iron ore in the “Brejinho das Ametistas” region.
Síria Ribeiro, Alfredo P. Santos Jr, Isabelly G. Martins, Elaine C. S. Oliveira, Roberta Graboski, Thiago Barbosa Da Silveira, Matheus H. M. Benício and Wilian Vaz-Silva. 2024. A New four-pored Amphisbaena Linnaeus, 1758 (Amphisbaenia, Amphisbaenidae) from the north of Espinhaço Mountain Range, Brazil. ZooKeys. 1213: 1-27. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1213.122265
