Phrynonax sexcarinatus (WAGLER, 1824)
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Phrynonax sexcarinatus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Northeastern Puffing Snake Portuguese: Caninana, Cobra-Cipó, Papa-Ovo, Papa-Pinto, Papa-Pinto-de-Papo-Vermelho, Papa-Rato, Rateira, Surucucu-Facão |
| Synonym | Natrix sexcarinata WAGLER 1824: 35 Ahaetulla polylepis PETERS 1867: 709 Spilotes fasciatus PETERS 1869: 443 Phrynonax fasciatus — BOULENGER 1894: 21 Phrynonax eutropis BOULENGER 1894: 22 Phrynonax lyoni STEJNEGER 1902: 185 Phrynonax atriceps WERNER 1913: 22 Phrynonax poecilonotus polylepis — AMARAL 1929: 313 Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — BRONGERSMA 1937: 6 Phrynonax lyoni — RENDAHL 1937 Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — BEEBE 1946: 39 Pseustes sexcarinatus — HOGE 1964: 28 Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 258 Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980 Pseutes poecilonotus polylepis — MEHRTENS 1987 (in error) Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999 Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis — WHITHWORTH & BEIRNE 2011 Phrynonax polylepis — JADIN et al. 2013 Pseustes polylepis — FELDMAN et al. 2015 Phrynonax lyoni — NATERA-MUMAW et al. 2015: 82 Phrynonax polylepis — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Phrynonax polylepis — LOPES & PASSOS 2023 Phrynonax polylepis — CRNOBRNA et al. 2023 Phrynonax polylepis — MURPHY et al. 2023 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Pará), Venezuela (Trinidad), Ecuador, Peru Type locality (polylepis): “Suriname” Neotype locality (sexcarinatus): Porto Trombetas (01°28’01.3”S, 56°22’46.0”W; ca. 40 m above sea level; asl hereafter), municipality of Oriximiná, state of Pará, Brazil Type locality (Spilotes fasciatus: “angeblich vom Maroni’ [Suriname] |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Neotype: MNRJ 20302, adult female, collected by Emiliane Pereira Gonçalves and team between November 13 and December 08, 2006. Holotype lost; was ZSM 1744/0, collected by Spix and Martius expedition to Brazil, 1817-1820 [sexcarinatus] Holotype: ZMB 5899 Holotype: ZMB 6455 [Spilotes fasciatus PETERS 1869] Holotype: USNM 27826 [Phrynonax lyoni] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis and Definition. Phrynonax sexcarinatus can be distinguished from all congeners by a unique combination of the following characters: dorsal scale rows usually keeled in adult specimens, except for the first series, usually smooth; dorsal scale rows usually 21/23/15; postoculars usually two; temporal formula usually 2+2; supralabials usually eight, fourth to sixth contacting the orbit; infralabials usually 13, the first eight contacting the first pair of chinshields; maxillary teeth 11–19; ventral scales 196–211 in females, 186–215 in males; subcaudal scales 95–142 in females, 110–139 in males; color in preservative (70% ethanol), adults presenting the dorsum of the head brown, supralabials and gular region cream, ventral surface of the body cream anteriorly, darkening to brown posteriorly, ventral surface of the tail brown, dorsum of the body and tail uniform brown; color in preservative (70% ethanol), juveniles with the dorsum of the head beige with scattered brown spots or blotches, supralabials and infralabials cream with brown vertical bars on the posterior edges, a cream gular region, dorsum of the body and tail beige with transverse dark blotches, ventral surface of the body creamish-white anteriorly, darkening posteriorly to beige, belly with scattered dark brown spots or blotches concentrated on the posterior of the body, ventral surface of the tail beige speckled with dark brown spots; maximum SVL 1128 mm in females, 1200 mm in males; relative tail length 32.7–46.7% SVL in females, 34.2–45.7% SVL in males. (LOPES & PASSOS 2023) |
| Comment | Synonymy partly after VILLA et al. 1988, PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970, and LOPES & PASSOS 2023. Listed as synonym of Pseustes poecilonotus by WALLACH et al. 2014: 612. The record of P. poecilonotus polilepis by Lemoine et al (1998) is based on mistake of Pseustes shropshirei (Marco Natera, pers. comm.). LOPES & PASSOS 2023 revalidated sexcarinata so that polylepis becomes a junior synonym. Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). Distribution: see map for P. polylepis in Nogueira et al. 2019: plate 143. Distribution: Phrynonax sexcarinatus is not in Venezuela fide NATERA-MUMAW et al. 2015. COSTA & BERNILS 2015 excluded this species from their checklist of Brazilian reptiles because 1) the validity of this name is questionable; 2) recent records from Brazil lack vouchers or may be misidentified. |
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