Synophis plectovertebralis Sheil & Grant, 2001

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 : 128-129

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Colubridae

Synophis plectovertebralis Sheil & Grant, 2001

Holotype.

UVC 11858, from Hacienda San Pedro, about 6 km south El Queremal, Municipio Dagua, Departamento del Valle del Cauca, Colombia.

Paratype.

UVC 11580, from type locality.

Etymology.

From the Latin plecto- for “braided” or “woven” and veretbralis for “vertebrae,” referring to the appearance of the interlocking zygapophyses viewed from above ( Sheil and Grant 2001).

Description.

Relatively small (~200mm SVL) dipsadine snakes of the Pacific versant of the Andean Highlands of W Colombia, diagnosable by 24 maxillary teeth, 7 or 8 infralabials, 7 or 8 supralabials, fused prefrontals, internasals in contact, loreal present, 1 postocular, nuchal collar present, 144-147 ventrals, 79-91 subcaudals, dorsal scales in 19-19-17 weakly keeled rows, neural spines expanded and flattened, and later ally expanded zygapophyses forming a partially interlocking complex. The type locality is a middle elevation (~1800m) cloud forest. Both known specimens were collected in moist leaf litter; one was active at night. The stomach of the holotype contained a Ptychoglossus stenolepis ( Sauria: Gymnophthalmidae ).

Notes.

Known only from the holotype and paratype (apparently juveniles), though other material has apparently been collected in Colombia, near the type locality (T. Grant and E. Meneses-Pelayo, pers. comm.). The hemipenes have not been examined. A more detailed description of the two specimens is provided by Sheil and Grant (2001).

Given our restriction of the name, we also provide the following re-description of the re-delimited Nothopsini . Note that we have not performed a comparative examination of a large series of preserved material, and these data are summarized from the literature ( Dunn and Dowling 1957; Savage 2002; Kohler 2008; McCranie 2011) to provide a basis for future revisions.