Diaphorolepis wagneri Jan, 1863

Pyron, R. Alexander, Guayasamin, Juan M., Penafiel, Nicolas, Bustamante, Lucas & Arteaga, Alejandro, 2015, Systematics of Nothopsini (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), with a new species of Synophis from the Pacific Andean slopes of southwestern Ecuador, ZooKeys 541, pp. 109-147 : 118-119

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Colubridae

Diaphorolepis wagneri Jan, 1863

Holotype.

ZSM 2708/0, locality given only as "Andes of Ecuador." We revise this by subsequent restriction (sensu Smith 1953) to Milpé, Pichincha province, Ecuador (0.035, -78.87; 1076m), the locality of one of the specimens (MZUTI 3322) examined here.

Description.

Relatively small-sized snakes (276-524mm SVL) with 23-25 maxillary teeth, 10-13 infralabials, 8 or 9 supralabials, 1-3 postoculars with the lower occasionally resembling a subocular and the middle occasionally resembling a temporal, fused prefrontals, internasals in contact, loreal present, incomplete nuchal collar present in juveniles (MZUTI 3322) fading ontogenetically, 181-197 ventrals, 131-141 subcaudals, (19-21)-19-17 dorsal scale rows, strong keels present on dorsal scales, and enlarged, bicarinate vertebral scale row. Uniformly cream-colored venter and dark-brown to black dorsum. Lumbar vertebrae are constricted near the middle, zygapophyses and neural spines are not expanded. The hemipenis has been briefly described ( Bogert 1964), but prior to modern classifications of the organ ( Zaher 1999), and needs to be examined in more detail. Ranges at low to middle elevations (~300-1600m) along the Pacific versant from the Darien in Panama to central Ecuador.

Etymology.

Most likely after Moritz Wagner, who collected the holotype (see Bauer 2013), and not Johann Andreas Wagner as suggested by previous authors ( Beolens et al. 2011).

Notes.

The re-description and neotype designation (NMW 18915) of Werner (1901) have no nomenclatural validity (see Bogert 1964).