Calabaria Gray, 1858

Szyndlar, Zbigniew & Georgalis, Georgios L., 2023, An illustrated atlas of the vertebral morphology of extant non-caenophidian snakes, with special emphasis on the cloacal and caudal portions of the column, Vertebrate Zoology 73, pp. 717-886 : 717

Calabaria Gray, 1858

Material examined.

Calabaria reinhardtii (Schlegel, 1848) (NHMUK 1911.10.28.17; SMF PH 68; UMMZ 190728; ZFMK 39543).

Description (Figs 63-70).

Trunk vertebrae. Centrum much shorter than wide; cotyle and condyle orbicular; neural arch moderately vaulted; posterior median notch of the neural arch deep; neural spine as high as long; prezygapophyseal accessory processes very short; hypapophyses disappear after the 40th vertebra; haemal keel flattened, weakly developed; subcentral grooves deep; paracotylar foramina absent; asymmetrical subcentral foramina occasionally present in some vertebrae.

Trunk / caudal transition. A prominent plate-like hypapophysis present in last (around 15 or more) trunk vertebrae diminishing gradually in following cloacal vertebrae, taking the shape of a broad haemal keel around the cloacal/caudal transition; this keel diminishes entirely in more posterior caudal vertebrae. Beginning from the 5th or 6th caudal vertebra, indistinct outlines (or vestiges) of paired structures / tubercles (vestigial haemapophyses), can be visible until the end of the tail. Neural spine is considerably thickened and broad near the tip of the tail. The posteriormost caudal vertebrae are fused.

Number of vertebrae (all for Calabaria reinhardtii ): ZFMK 39543: 256 (227+4+25), including a final fusion; SMF PH 68: 254 (225+4+25, including a final fusion).

Data from literature: Calabaria reinhardtii : 236 trunk and cloacal vertebrae plus 26+ caudal vertebrae ( Alexander and Gans 1966).