A new species of Ninia (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from Chocó-Magdalena biogeographical province, western Colombia

Abstract

We describe a new species of the genus Ninia from the Chocó-Magdalena biogeographic province, which was previously reported as a distinct population of N. maculata or as N. atrata from the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia. The new species is similar to N. atrata, N. celata, N. espinali, N. franciscoi, and N. maculata. It shares the following characteristics with the species mentioned above: 19 dorsal scale rows without reductions; dorsal ground color black or dark brown; white or cream occipital nuchal collar. However, it is easily distinguished from all other congeners because it has a non-regular color pattern in the ventral surfaces of the head and body, subcaudal surface homogeneously black or dark brown, two nasal scales, and one lateral projection ornamented with a large basal hook-shaped spine that is larger than any other spine on the hemipenial body. The presence of a lateral projection on the hemipenial body makes the new species the only member of the genus from South America that shares this feature with its Central American congeners. This feature suggests a closer relationship with this linage. Finally, our results indicate that proper and careful revision of the Ninia atrata species complex will help to understand and clarify the taxonomic composition of the genus.

RANGE EXPANSION IN THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF Xenodon angustirostris PETERS, 1864: A NEW LOCALITY FOR THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN ECOREGION

“…Xenodon Orozco, 2021;Morrone, 2001), contrasting with other studies that suggest that Chocó-Magdalena province could be consider a full biogeographic unit (Angarita-Sierra & Lynch, 2017). A single new record does not explain the biogeographic history of continental Caribbean ecoregion, but this unexpected record remarks its evolutionary complexity.…”

Imantodes inornatus (Boulenger, 1886) (Squamata: Dipsadidae): expansion of known range and first records from the Magdalena River valley, Colombia

“…This specimen presents 17-17-15 dorsal scales, 196 ventrals, 105 subcaudals, eight supralabials (3-5 contacting the orbit), nine infralabials (1-5 contacting shinshields), one preocular, and one postocular scales. (Savage, 2002;Castaño-Mora et al, 2004;Rojas-Morales, 2012;Díaz-Ayala et al, 2015;Angarita-Sierra & Lynch, 2017). The distribution of I. inornatus in the middle Magdalena River valley, particularly in the Nechí, Carare and Lebrija districts (Chocó-Magdalena biogeographic province), supports the known shared distribution of some amphibians and reptiles between the Pacific and middle Magdalena humid forests, as has been discussed by other authors (Hernandez-Camacho et al, Accelerated habitat loss and degradation by different activities in the middle Magdalena River valley (i. e. cattle rising, illegal crops, and energy projects), have modified the natural landscape pattern.…”

Herpetofauna from two municipalities of southwestern Colombia

“…In 2004, 139 species of amphibians and 188 species of reptiles were known to occur in the Choco biogeographic region of Colombia (Castaño-Mora et al, 2004;Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga, 2004). However, since 2005, the number of amphibians and reptiles recorded has increased substantially for this region to 157 amphibians and 215 reptiles (Ayerbe-González & López-López, 2005;Heyer, 2005;Passos et al, 2009;Poe et al, 2009;Rengifo & Rentería-Moreno, 2011;Cadle, 2012;Grant & Myers, 2013;Palacios-Rodríguez et al, 2013a, 2013bJaramillo-Martínez et al, 2015;Ospina-Sarria et al, 2015;Sánchez-Pacheco et al, 2016;Márquez et al, 2017;Angarita-Sierra & Lynch, 2017;Grant et al, 2017;Rada et al, 2017;Medina-Rangel et al, 2018a, 2018bPinto-Erazo & Medina-Rangel, 2018, Grisales-Martínez & Rendón-Valencia, 2019 representing ca. 19 % and 35 % of the richness of Colombian amphibians and reptiles, respectively.…”