Drymoluber Amaral, 1930

Costa, Henrique Caldeira, Moura, Mário Ribeiro & Feio, Renato Neves, 2013, Taxonomic revision of Drymoluber Amaral, 1930 (Serpentes: Colubridae), Zootaxa 3716 (3), pp. 349-394 : 362-364

Drymoluber Amaral, 1930

Drymoluber Amaral, 1930 . Memórias do Instituto Butantan, 4, p. 335. Type species by monotypy: Herpetodryas dichroa Peters, 1863

Diagnosis: Drymoluber is distinguished from all other Neotropical Colubrinae by the following combination of characters: a) dorsal scales smooth, in 13, 15 or 17 midbody rows; b) cloacal shield entire (rarely divided); c) 157– 202 ventrals; d) 84–127 divided subcaudals; e) caudal pseudoautotomy; f) two pairs of chinshields, the first about half the length of the second; g) 8 (less commonly 7 or 9) supralabials; h) 8 or 9 (less commonly 7 and 10) infralabials; i) 1 (rarely 2) preocular; j) 2 (rarely 1 or 3) postoculars; k) 14–26 maxillary teeth; l) ontogenetic variation in the dorsal coloration of body and head (small specimens have dark and white/red colored macules on the head, and the body with dark crossbands separated by light interspaces, while large specimens have dorsal coloration uniformly green, brown or gray); m) hemipenes single, subcylindrical, not capitate, with the lobe about half the length of the organ, ornamented with papillate calyces gradually replaced by spinulate flounces and spines. The spines are arranged in more or less transverse rows, those bordering the sulcus spermaticus having a basal hook.

Content: Three species: Drymoluber dichrous (Peters, 1863) , Drymoluber brazili (Gomes, 1918) and Drymoluber apurimacensis Lehr, Carrillo & Hocking, 2004 .

Geographical distribution ( Fig. 12 ): The genus Drymoluber is widely distributed in the South America east of the Andes, almost entirely north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It occurs in Amazonia, the Guiana Shield and along the eastern side of Andes, the Atlantic Forest from northeastern to southeastern Brazil, the Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga, transitional areas between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado in Brazil and Paraguay, and transitional areas between the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga. The change of the climate and ecosystems south of the Tropic of Capricorn (-23.45) from tropical to subtropical seems to be a decisive factor limiting the austral distribution of Drymoluber (Bérnils et al. 2007) . The elevational distribution of Drymoluber varies from sea level at the Brazilian coast to about 3500 meters in the Andes.

Tropical and subtropical dry forests; Mediterranean forest of woods and shrubs; Mountain grasslands. Habitat types follow Olson et al. (2001).

Etymology: Amaral (1930) stated that the dentary and hemipenial characters of Herpetodryas dichroa Peters, 1863 suggested that was a taxon closely related and intermediate between Drymobius and Coluber . The generic name Drymoluber (an amalgam of the words Drymobius and Coluber ), was proposed to simultaneously distinguish and show the close relationship between Herpetodryas dichroa (now Drymoluber dichrous ) and those genera. The name Drymoluber is masculine in gender.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Geographical distribution of Drymoluber Amaral, 1930. Black symbols represent localities with specimens examined, and white symbols represent literature records. Circles = Drymoluber dichrous (Peters, 1863); Triangles = Drymoluber brazili (Gomes, 1918); Lozenges = Drymoluber apurimacensis Lehr, Carrillo & Hocking, 2004. Tropical and subtropical moist forests; Tropical and subtropical savannas; Deserts and xeric formations; Mangroves; Floodplains;