Leptodeira ashmeadii (HALLOWELL, 1845)
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Leptodeira ashmeadii
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Banded Cat-eyed Snake G: Bananennatter |
| Synonym | Coluber ashmeadii HALLOWELL 1845: 244 Leptodeira albofusca – BOULENGER 1896: 95 (part) Tarbophis dipsadomorphoides – AHL 1925: 175 Leptodeira rhombifera – DUNN 1944: 207 Leptodeira rhombifera kugleri SHREVE 1949: 531 Leptodeira annulata ashmeadi — DUELLMAN 1958: 43 Telescopus dipsadomorphoides — PERRET 1961 Leptodeira annulata ashmeadi — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 153 Leptodeira annulata ashmeadi — MERTENS 1972 Leptodeira annulata ashmeadii — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999 Leptodeira annulata ashmeadii — BOOS 2001 Leptodeira annulata — UGUETO & RIVAS 2010 Leptodeira ashmeadii — BARRIO-AMORÓS 2019 Leptodeira ashmeadii — COSTA et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | NE Colombia, N Venezuela (incl. Cojedes), Tobago, Trinidad, Isla Margarita; Brazil (Roraima), elevation 0-1000 m Type locality: restricted to “vicinity of Caracas, Distrito Federal, Venezuela (by DUELLMAN 1958). |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Lectotype: ANSP 10093 (ashmeadi) Holotype: MCZ 49044 [kugleri] Holotype: ZMB 28776, from Buea, Cameroon, in error [Tarbophis dipsadomorphoides] |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: Leptodeira ashmeadii can be distinguished from their congeners by the following com- bination of characters: (1) dorsal scales 17–21/17–23/13–17; (2) presubocular present or absent; (3) supral- abials 7–9/7–9; (4) infralabials 9–11/9–11; (5) ventral counts in males 172–197 and 167–191 in females; (6) subcaudal counts in male 70–97 and 67–92 in females; (7) two dark brown parallel stripes in the parietal region which run toward the occipitals; (8) two occipital stripes extend to the body and fuse with the first dorsal blotch; (9) number of dark brown dorsal blotches in males 19–58 and 27–51 in females; (10) number of dorsal blotches in tail in male 13–31 and 12–33 in females; (11) SVL 331–544 mm in males and 331–801 mm in females; and (12) tail long 26.06% of TTL in males and 23.50% of TTL in females. Leptodeira ashmeadii differs from L. annulata, L. approximans, and L. ornata by the presence of larger dark spots in the dorsal view of the head and dark stripes in the occipital region (vs. dorsal head with small or absent dark spots and the occipital region with or without medial thin line); from L. bakeri and L. larcorum by the presence of a dark horseshoe-shaped spot in the occipital region (vs. dark bar-shaped, dark butterfly-shaped spot, medial wide line in L. bakeri and L. larcorum, respectively); from L. pulchriceps and L. tarairiu sp. nov. by having a lower average of ventral scales in males 182 (172–197) and in females 181 (167–191) (vs. a higher average of ventral counts in male 195 (191–198) and females 193 (188–200) in L. pulchriceps; and male 198 (184–208) and females 198 (182–212) in L. tarairiu sp. nov.). (Costa et al. 2022: Supplement S2). |
| Comment | Synonymy after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970, Villa et al. 1988, AND COSTA et al. 2022. Wallach et al. 2014: 368 listed this species as synonym of L. annulata. Telescopus dipsadomorphoides AHL 1925 was listed by Perret 1961 as a species from Cameroon. However, this was apparently in error, as the original name, Tarbophis dipsadomorphoides AHL 1925, is a synonym of Leptodeira ashmeadi (previously a synonym or subspecies of L. annulata). See also Costa et al. 2022 (supplement S2). Hybridization: ROZE 1958 reports Leptodeira annulata annulata x ashmeadii hybrids. Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). Distribution: see map in Costa et al. 2022: Fig. 9 in Supplement S2. |
| Etymology | The generic name is derived from the Greek words leptos, meaning "thin" and deire, meaning "neck." The specios has been named after the diminutive form (“annul-”) of Latin “anus” = ring. ashmeadi has been named after the collector of the types, Samuel Ashmead. |
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