Epictia antoniogarciai, Koch, Claudia, Venegas, Pablo J. & Böhme, Wolfgang, 2015

Koch, Claudia, Venegas, Pablo J. & Böhme, Wolfgang, 2015, Three new endemic species of Epictia Gray, 1845 (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) from the dry forest of northwestern Peru, Zootaxa 3964 (2), pp. 228-244 : 236-240

Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov.

( Figures 2 G–I, 6)

Holotype: CORBIDI 7678, from the vicinities of Santa Rosa de la Yunga Village, Jaén Province, Cajamarca Region, Peru (S 05°25’53.3’’, W 078°33’47.0’’, 1268 m.a.s.l.), collected by M. Enciso, S. Duran and C. Koch on 4 May 2009.

Paratypes (N = 4): three specimens from the vicinities Zapatalgo Village, Utcubamba Province, Amazonas Region, Peru: ZFMK 96676 (S 06°04’47.7’’, W 078°29’18.7’’, 934 m. a.s.l.), CORBIDI 5670, ZFMK 90934 (S 06°04’44.0’’, W 078°29’16.7’’, 968 m. a.s.l.), collected by A. Garcia Bravo and C. Koch between 07–09 December 2009; and one specimen from the type locality: CORBIDI 2069, collected in August 2008 by N. Monsalve.

Diagnosis. (1) 14 midbody scale rows; (2) 10 midtail scale rows; (3) 2 supralabials, first large and in broad contact with supraocular; (4) 14–18 subcaudals; (5) 195–208 mid-dorsal scale rows; (6) dorsal scales black with yellow margins; (7) rostral bright yellow or yellowish-white dorsally, and grayish-brown or blackish ventrally; (8) terminal spine and surrounding scales yellow; (9) ventral surface of head, body and tail almost completely grayishbrown or light-gray scattered with dark grayish-brown scales.

Comparisons [conditions for other Epictia in brackets]: By having 195–208 mid-dorsal scales this species has a higher number than E. collaris [155–166] and E. vanwallachi [188], and a lower number than E. albipuncta [213–285], E. alfredschmidti [267–279], E. borapeliotes [256–282], E. columbi [240–265], E. melanura [395– 396], E. rufidorsa [255–270], E. septemlineata [257], E. striatula [216–265], E. subcrotilla [318–333], E. teaguei [232–259], E. tesselata [258–283] and E. tricolor [285–310]. By having 14–18 subcaudal scales it further differs from E. columbi [22–25], E. melanura [18–20], E. munoai [10–14], E. nasalis [21] and E. tricolor [18–23]. By having a different color pattern with dorsal scales black with thin yellowish-white or bright yellow margins, and rostral and terminal portion of tail yellowish-white or bright yellow, it further differs from E. septemlineata [dorsum with seven black longitudinal stripes], E. rubrolineata [dorsal coloration red with 5 longitudinal stripes], E. rufidorsa [striped pattern with a red dorsal longitudinal stripe], E. teaguei [ tricolor dorsal pattern of red, black and yellow stripes], E. tenella [dorsum dark brown with lateral edges of the scales lighter, forming a pattern of serrated longitudinal light lines] and E. vanwallachi [dorsal scales brown with thin white or yellowish margins, rostral grayish-brown].

Description of holotype: An adult specimen with SVL of 129 mm; TAL of 14.5 mm; MB of 3.8 mm; MT of 3.0 mm; TL/TAL of 9.9; TL/MB of 37.8; HW of 2.8 mm; HH of 2.2 mm; HL of 3.4 mm; DSN of 0.9 mm; DNE of 0.8 mm; ED of 0.6 mm. Head subcylindrical, slightly depressed dorsoventrally, indistinguishable from neck; body cylindrical; not tapered cranially or caudally. Snout rounded in lateral and ventral view. Rostral visible in dorsal view, about 1.5 times longer than wide, almost squared ventrally with dorsal termination (apex) sharply rounded, almost reaching the imaginary transverse line between the anterior borders of the eyes, contacting upper and lower nasal laterally and frontal dorsally.

Nasal completely divided horizontally by a suture slightly oblique, reaching rostral and first supralabial; ellipsoid nostril located almost in the center of the suture between upper and lower nasal, having the major axis oriented along the suture; supranasal about 1.9 times higher than wide and about 1.3 times higher than infranasal, contacting infranasal ventrally, first supralabial and supraocular posteriorly, and frontal dorsally; infranasal 1.7 times higher than wide, about 1.5 times wider than anterior supralabial, contacting first supralabial posteriorly; two supralabial scales, first positioned anteriorly and second posteriorly to ocular scale (1+1); upper lip border formed by rostral, infranasal, anterior supralabial, ocular and posterior supralabial; first supralabial about 2.8 times higher than wide, exceeding nostril, slightly exceeding central level of eye, in contact with supraocular scale dorsally and ocular posteriorly; ocular scale pentagonal with dorsal apex acuminate, 1.5 times higher than wide, contacting supraocular anterodorsally, parietal posterodorsally and second supralabial posteriorly; eye located at level of maximum width of ocular and with lower eye margin at nostril level, positioned anteriorly and almost contacting scale sutures; eyes partly visible in dorsal view; second supralabial subtrapezoidal, about as high as wide, slightly exceeding central level of eye, as high as anterior supralabial, 2.5 times wider than anterior supralabial at widest point; posterior margin of second supralabial in broad contact with temporal and in contact with first scale of lateral body row; dorsal margin of second supralabial in contact with parietal; temporal scale of same size as dorsal scales of lateral rows; supraocular scale almost spindle-shaped, oriented oblique, about twice as long as wide, contacting parietal posteriorly, and frontal and postfrontal dorsally; supraocular, parietal and occipital scales visible in lateral view; mid-dorsal head plates (frontal, postfrontal, interparietal and interoccipital) slightly imbricate, hardly decreasing in size posteriorly, pentagonal or round in dorsal view, higher and narrower than posterior mid-dorsal scales; frontal contacting postfrontal posteriorly; postfrontal contacting supraoculars anteriorly, parietals and interparietal posteriorly; interparietal contacting parietals and occipitals laterally, and interoccipital posteriorly; interoccipital contacting occipitals laterally, and nuchal and three dorsal body scales posteriorly; parietal about 1.8 times higher than wide, as high as occipital, about 1.5 times wider than occipital, both scales almost rectangular in shape; occipital about 2.5 times higher than wide; lower margin of parietal contacting upper border of temporal, posterior margin in broad contact with occipital; lower margin of occipital contacting temporal and first lateral body scale, posterior margin in broad contact with first paravertebral and first dorsolateral scale (latter both scales fused on left side); mental small with a median depression, followed by six infralabials per side, slightly subequal in size; first pair of infralabials rectangular, slightly larger than other infralabials; chin, gular, and dorsal and lateral head scales porous.

Dorsal scales imbricate, smooth, homogeneous, rhomboid or elliptical in shape, about 1.4 times wider than long; 202 MDS; 14–14–14 D; 184 V; 10 TS; Anal plate large, 1.7 times wider than long, subtriangular in shape with distal apex rounded, bordered anteriorly and posteriorly by five rows of scales; 16 SC, becoming slightly narrower distally, except for ultimate four scales which are each fused with adjacent scales; each of last three scales on the dorsal surface of the tail fused with adjacent dorsolateral scales; terminal spine conical and strongly pointed, with stout base about as wide as long.

Color of holotype in life: Anterior portion of head with a large bright yellow blotch, covering completely the dorsal surface of frontal and rostral scales, and partially the supranasal scales; rostral dark grayish-brown ventrally; remaining head and body dorsal scales black, with striking bright yellow margins; terminal spine and surrounding scales (two rows dorsally and three rows ventrally) bright yellow; ventral surface of head, body and tail light-gray, scattered with numerous darker grayish-brown scales.

Color of holotype in preservative: Coloration of blotch on anterior dorsal scales of the head and terminal portion of tail changed to cream; rostral changed to dark gray ventrally; dorsal scales from head and body changed from dark brown to blackish with cream margins; ventral surface of head, body and tail changed to cream except for some scattered grayish-brown scales.

Variation. Morphometric and pholidosis characters of the four paratypes are given in Table 1 . The paratypes further vary from the holotype in the following characters: the yellow color pattern is distinctly less striking in three of the paratypes (ZFMK 96676, CORBIDI 5670, ZFMK 90934) than in the holotype: the blotch on the anterodorsal surface of the head is cream or yellowish-white; the dorsals are dark brown to black, most scales with thin, indistinct, yellowish margins; terminal spine pale yellow; ventral surface of head, body and tail almost uniformly grayish-brown, somewhat lighter than dorsal scales, or sometimes scattered with darker scales.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Antonio Garcia Bravo, Peruvian biologist, in recognition of both, his support in the investigation of the Peruvian herpetofauna and his continued and unattenuated efforts in the conservation of the dry forests along the Marañón River.

Distribution and natural history. This species is known from the interandean part of the Equatorial Dry Forest from Santa Rosa de la Yunga in the North to about 80 km southwards ( Fig. 8 ).

The holotype (CORBIDI 7678) was found on 4 May 2009 at 3:30 pm on a track ( Fig. 7 A). Air temperature was 23.6°C, ground temperature was 25.6°C and air humidity was 73%. ZFMK 96676 was found on 7 December 2009 at 10:40 am lying dead on dry and hot soil (45.5°C). Despite the high ground temperature the specimen was in a good condition indicating that it was only dead for a short time. Two days later at 2:10 pm two further specimens (CORBIDI 5670, ZFMK 90934) were found under stones at the roadside (Fig. B). While lifting the stone CORBIDI 5670 was accidentally killed and its head was destroyed. Air temperature was between 30.5°C–33.8°C, temperature under the stones was 33.6°C and air humidity was between 57%–64%.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Lateral (A), dorsal (B) and ventral (C) views of head of Holotype of Epictia septemlineata sp. nov. (CORBIDI 14683); Lateral (D), dorsal (E) and ventral (F) views of head of Holotype of Epictia vanwallachi sp. nov. (CORBIDI 14682); Lateral (G), dorsal (H) and ventral (I) views of head of Paratype of Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov. (ZFMK 90934).

FIGURE 7. Habitat and localities of Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov. Track in the type locality (A); and vicinities of Zapatalgo, Utcubamba Province, Amazonas Region, Peru (B), where the paratypes were collected.

FIGURE 8. Type localities of Epictia septemlineata sp. nov. (Red star), Epictia vanwallachi sp. nov. (Green star), Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov. (Yellow star) and locality of paratypes of Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov. (Yellow dot) in the Northern Peruvian Andes.

Tables

TABLE 1. Summary of morphometric and pholidosis characters of the paratypes of Epictia antoniogarciai sp. nov. Characters marked with a * represent measurements given in mm.

	ZFMK 96676	ZFMK 90934	CORBIDI 5670	CORBIDI 2069
MDS	203	208	195	207
V	191	196	181	190
SC	14	16	18	15
SVL *	100	113	111	168
TAL *	6.3	8.3	9.3	11.8
MB *	3.1	3.2	2.9	4.5
MT *	2.5	2.3	2.1	3.3
TL/TAL	16.9	14.6	12.9	15.2
TL/MB	34.3	37.9	41.5	40.0
HW *	2.1	2.2	2.2	3.3
HH *	1.6	2.0	/	2.8
HL *	3.1	3.8	2.6	3.4
DSN *	0.7	0.9	0.5	0.9
DNE *	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.8
ED *	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.6