Atractus gaigeae (SAVAGE, 1955)
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Atractus gaigeae
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Gaige's Ground Snake |
| Synonym | Rhabdosoma maculatum BOCOURT 1883: 540 (in part) Atractus bocourti — BOULENGER 1896: 645 (in part) Atractus gaigeae SAVAGE 1955 Atractus gaigeae — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 29 Atractus collaris gaigeae — DIXON & SOINI 1977: 34 Atractus gaigeae — CARILLO & ICOCHEA 1995 Atractus gaigeae — PASSOS et al. 2007 Atractus gaigeae — WALLACH et al. 2014: 73 |
| Distribution | Ecuador (Amazonas) Type locality: Santiago-Zaruma or Morona-Chinchipe Provinces, Ecuador. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: UMMZ 82887, adult male, collected by Clarence Altenberg and Bancroft G. Buttler on 1935 without a precise location in the province of Zamora-Chinchipe (formerly Santiago-Zamora), Ecuador. Paratypes: All specimens from the provinces of Napo and Pastaza, Ecuador: male (AMNH 35891) from a locality between Baños (01°25’S, 78°33’W) and Canelos; female (CAS-SU 15619) and male (CAS-SU 15620) from Canelos (01°35’S, 77°45’W; ca. 490 m); male (CAS-SU 15621) from headwaters of Bobonaza River (01°28’S, 53°40’W; ca. 250 m); male MEPN (also as EPN) 8693 (formerly EPN 48) from Bobonaza River, Sarayacu (01°44’S, 77°29’W; ca. 400 m); and EPN female 5272 (formerly EPN 46) from Bobonaza River, Chichirota (02°32’S; 76°39’W; ca. 250 m). Lectotype: ZMB [Rhabdosoma maculatum] |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: A form most closely resembling A. collaris of Ecuador and Perú and, to a lesser extent, ecuadorensis, occidentalis, and dunni. Distinct from these forms and all other Ecuadorian Atractus in: (1) 17 scale rows; (2) loreal long; (3) teeth on maxillary five or six; (4) ventrals in males, 187-198 (191); in females, 207-213 (210); and (5) pattern of seven dark stripes and two rows of regularly arranged dark spots [from SAVAGE 1960]. |
| Comment | Synonymy: fide Passos et al. 2018. Has been synonymized with A. collaris by DIXON & SOINI 1986. Dixon & Soini (1977) pointed out that the material they studied from Santa Maria (from Iquitos region of Peru) was “intermediary between A. collaris and A. gaigeae” and considered the latter taxon a subspecies of the former species. Distribution: see map in Passos et al. 2018: 513 (Fig. 12). Has been erroneously reported from Peru by Carrillo & Icochea (1995) and Pitman et al. (2011) in their lists of reptiles from Peru. |
| Etymology | Named after Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige (1890-1976), American herpetologist at the University of Michigan. See Bell et al. 2021 for biographical data. |
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