Artigo original A new species of Apostolepis (Serpentes, , Elapomorphini), belonging to assimilis group, found in Brazilian Cerrado Nova espécie de Apostolepis (Serpentes, Colubridae, Elapomorphini) pertencente ao grupo assimilis, encontrada no Cerrado brasileiro

Thales De Lema1 Márcia F. Renner2

ABSTRACT It is described Apostolepis parassimilis sp.n., with several specimens from Central Brazil, at Cerrado do- main. It’s similar to (Reinhardt 1861), from which differs by presence of white immaculate ventral side, terminal and subcaudals grayish, and snout don’t projecting beyond jaws.

KEYWORDS Morphology – Pholidosis – Coloration - White unblemished venter - Central Brazil. 71

¹Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, P. O. Box 1429, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 90619-900. E-mail: [email protected]. 2Faculdade Cenecista de Osório (CNEC), Dep. Biologia, 24 de Maio, 147, Osório, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 95520-000. E-mail: [email protected].

Ciência em Movimento | Ano XIII | Nº 27 | 2011/2 A new species of Apostolepis belonging to assimilis group, found in Brazilian Cerrado

RESUMO Nova espécie de Apostolepis (Serpentes, Colubridae, Elapomorphini) pertencente ao grupo assimilis, encon- trada no Cerrado brasileiro. É descrita Apostolepis parassimilis sp. n. com base em exemplares procedentes do Brasil Central, domínio Cerrado. Ela aproxima-se de Apostolepis assimilis (Reinhardt 1861) da qual difere, basicamente, por apresentar toda a face ventral branca e imaculada, terminal e subcaudais cinzentas, e focinho não projetado sobre mandíbula.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE Morfologia – Folidose – Coloração - Ventre branco imaculado - Brasil Central.(PARÁGRAFO)

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Ciência em Movimento | Ano XIII | Nº 27 | 2011/2 A new species of Apostolepis belonging to assimilis group, found in Brazilian Cerrado

Introduction The paratype was caught in an expedition to The examination of the specimens in northeastern Brazil made by Antenor Leitão de Car- the exposition gallery of the Instituto Pinheiros, São valho, naturalist of the MNRJ. Paulo, revealed some specimens determined as Ap- The description of the new species follows Lema ostolepis assimilis (Reinhardt 1861), but differing in (2004). several aspects of that. We examined other similar specimens in the collections of the Instituto Butan- Results tan (S. Paulo) and Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro), Apostolepis parassimilis sp. n. concluding by description of a new species, similar and inhabiting the same area of A. assimilis, which is the most frequent species of Elapomorphini, pre- senting high variation and, perhaps, polymorphic, as we are noting through analysis of variation in progress. The knowledge of variation of the Elapo- morphini species is small, known to few species, according of available samples. Both species be- long to assimilis group of species, characterized, mainly, by presence of nape-cervical collars, back- ground uniformly red, and lower sides white, usually unblemished (One exception only).

Material and methods The specimen MNRJ.6524 presents the back- 73 ground color well conserved (about 60%) and selec- ted to paratype. For holotype was selected the better conserved specimen, adult and male. The remainder specimens have the background color discolored, de- duced by examination under stereomicroscope, that revealed presence of remnants of the erythrocytes, Figures 1-4. Apostolepis assimilis (IBSP.49354), from São Paulo, SP (Erros: The minute brown dots covering regularly all the surface snout is white) (João Cavalheiro del.) of dorsal scales from vertebral and paravertebral zones. Acronyms of Institutions: IBSP, Instituto Butan- tan, São Paulo (SP); IPSP, Instituto Pinheiros, Produ- tos Terapêuticos, S.A., São Paulo (SP), closed (see further on); MCN, Museu de Ciências Naturais, of the Fundação Zoobotânica, Porto Alegre (RS); MCTP, Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia of the Pontifícia Uni- versidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (RS); MHNCI, Museu de História Natural de Capão da Imbuia, Curitiba, Paraná; MNRJ, Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The IPSP was closed and the housed speci- Figures 5-8. Apostolepis parassimilis sp. n. - holotype (MCNRS. 8535) from Mi- mens were sent to IBSP, MCNRS, MCTP; they nas Gerais (Eduardo M. Lucchesi del.) were determined by Tertuliano Beu, technician of the institution.

Ciência em Movimento | Ano XIII | Nº 27 | 2011/2 A new species of Apostolepis belonging to assimilis group, found in Brazilian Cerrado

Type specimens.--- MCNRS.8535, holotype, young male; from IPSP (formerly IPSP.1934), from Minas Gerais State, in the municipality of Uberlândia, with the pattern well visible. MNRJ.6524, paratype, young female, from Bahia State, with visible pattern and colors. Diagnosis.--- Species similar to Apostolepis as- similis (Reinhardt 1861), from which differs present- ing: (a) head high (vs head flat); (b) snout rounded not projecting (vs projecting); (c) inner margins of the parietal plates light marbled (vs fully black); (d) men- tal and gular regions white unblemished (vs strong blotched with black, or almost fully black); (e) black cervical collar small, long as 1/3 +1 DO rows; reach- ing the up side of the 3rd row; (f) tail blotch black only dorsally, grayish bellow (vs fully black); (g) terminal shield fully white (vs fully black). It’s similar also, to Apostolepis freitasi Lema 2002, from which differs by the snout round not projecting (vs projecting); white snout (not red); small cervical black blotch (vs normal or long); lower sides immaculate white (vs blotched on lower head); and by the higher number of ventral scales, 236-270 instead 208-245; and by distribution: 74 A. freitasi that’s restricted to SE of Bahia, near Atlan- long; 3rd long; 4th small, triangle like, sutured with tic littoral, into the Caatinga domain. the postocular; 5th and 6th the largest, 5th high and 6th long. Posterior temporal are long and nar- Description of the holotype row. Occipitals are very large, higher than long, su- Morphology.--- Head short, broad and high, more turing with parietal and 6th supralabial. Chin shields broader forward; broader than neck; snout short, high are short and broad, the anterior larger than posterior, and slender, with tip rounded, few or not projecting both contacting the 1st four infralabials. Infralabials 7, beyond jaws; trunk relatively thick and long; tail en- 4th and 5th are the largest; 6th higher than long, and tirely broad, with few compressed, with rounded tip. 7th longer than high. Gulars in 6 rows, on each side. Preventrals 2. Ventrals, 246. Subcaudals 32 pairs. Measurements.--- See Table 1 Terminal very small, a few compressed. Pholidosis.--- Rostral broad, trapeze like. Prefron- Coloration.--- Pillum small covering the eyes, 1st tals large, very shorter than parietals. Frontal very supralabials, outer margins of supraoculars and pa- small, hexagon like, anterior angle smaller than pos- rietals, posterior half of 5th supralabials and all the terior; the length is the double of width, smaller than 6th supralabials, the occipitals, and one ring of dorsal each supraocular. Supraoculars very broad. Parietals scales. Black stripe extending along the suture be- very large, V-shaped. Nasal short, triangle like, the tween parietals and posterior apex of frontal. Snout nostril sited on ½ of it. Prefrontals are longer than white colored extending to almost all the parietals. wide, contacting the 2nd supralabial through long The light blotch on supralabials is small, reaching suture. Preocular are minute and diamond shaped. the 3rd, 4th, anterior ½ of the 5th, and lower mar- Postoculars are rectangle like, higher than long. Su- gin of postocular. The black nape collar is narrow, pralabials 6, 2nd and 3rd contacting the orbit; the 1st don’t forming sideburns, and ended in oral angle. is the smallest, triangle shape; 2nd large, higher than The white nape collar is long as four vertebral scales,

Ciência em Movimento | Ano XIII | Nº 27 | 2011/2 A new species of Apostolepis belonging to assimilis group, found in Brazilian Cerrado and three at sides. The black cervical collar is narrow, presenting background color uniformly red, white long as one or two vertebral dorsal scales, irregularly and black nape-cervical collars, and the belly unblem- black blotched in the 3rd longitudinal row of scales. ished white colored. The variation of this species is Lower sides immaculate white. Back ground color known partially, and we are working with the A. as- uniformly red. Black tail blotch only dorsal, covering similis. About Apostolepis cearensis Gomes 1915, nine dorsal vertebral scales, eight lateral scales; 8th from Caatinga, there are contributions (Zamprogno pairs of subcaudals are grayish, as well as the termi- et al., 1998; lema and Renner, 2005). Both species nal spine, that is black dorsally. have high frequency over-lopping in the distribution Variation. Head broad, snout broad and rounded. borders in northeastern Brazil. In the areas of the The head is few broader at level of the anterior part of Cerrado, without or with forests (“cerradões”), there parietals. The trunk has the same diameter along it, are many species of Apostolepis (Lema, 2001), but decreasing at end of the 3rd part. The orbit is larger, in the open areas of Caatinga only occurs two spe- the same size of the distance from it to oral border. cies (A. carensis, and A. freitasi Lema 2004), except The female tail is shorter than the male. The terminal on some highlands that are enclaves with relictual is more conical than the holotype, but this difference herpetofauna (Lema, 2003), and in the riverbanks of may be by sexual dimorphism (Table 1). Pholidosis: São Francisco(Rodrigues, 1992). Frontal few pentagonal, the length is few larger than The option to consider A. parassimilis sp. n. as width and larger than holotype. The paratype has a morph of A. assimilis, with low rate of melanin the parietals anomalous, with different sizes, the left was considered, but need an available sample of larger than right; the suture can be curled posteriorly. them to conclude this. This is a previous commu- Anomaly in the paratype: left occipital divided with nication while the variation of latter are in progress. superior part fused with the temporal. The lower side The comparison (table 2) was using only the type of the head is anomalous in the paratype, with ob- specimens. 75 lique plates to left, without symmetry (traumatism?). Coloration: Light supralabial blotch trapezoid. Black cervical collar with some vertebral projections (an- terior and posterior). The black tail blotch only in the dorsal scales, subcaudals white or grayish, or shadowed, with terminal all or almost white, with proximal margins dark, white down. The paratype has a curious anomaly at end of trunk: left and ven- trally is blackish at 18th dorsal scales in the one, or two rows of scales, and nine ventral scales. Distribution. On Cerrado, N to S, reaching the States of Goiás to Santa Catarina, being sympatric with A. assimilis and A. ammodites, only consid- ering species of the same group. One specimen housed in IBSP, as from Rio Grande do Norte, is, certainly, an error where only occurs A. cearensis. Acknowledgments About this probable error, we have found another To the Curators of collections, by loan of speci- specimens housed in this collection with doubtful mens, mainly to Carmem Lúcia dos Santos Cord- origins. eiro and Iara Lúcia Laporta Ferreira, Francisco Luís Franco (IBSP), to Cyro de Camargo Nogueira (IPSP), Conclusion to Moema Leitão de Araújo (MCNRS), and to Ron- The new species belongs to the asimilis group, aldo Fernandes (MNRJ). To Eduardo Melloni Luc- that comprising species inhabiting the Cerrado, all chese by drawings.

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Referências LEMA, T. Contributio to the knowledge of Apostolepis cea- rensis Gomes, 1915 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Elapomorphi- LEMA, T. Fossorial Apostolepis from nae), with comments of similar species from Northeastern South America (Serpentes: Colubridae: Elapomor- Brazil. Comunicações do Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia phinae). Cuadernos de Herpetología 15 (1): 29-43. da PUCRS, ser. Zool. 18 (2); 129-140. 2005. 2001. RODRIGUES, M. T. Herpetofauna das dunas interiores do LEMA, T. Geographic distribution of chromatic pat- Rio São Francisco: Bahia: Brasil. V. Duas novas espécies terns in elapomorphine snakes (Colubridae), and spe- de Apostolepis (Ophidia, Colubridae). Memórias do Insti- cies groups. Comunicações do Museu de Ciências e tuto Butantan 54 (2): 53-59. 1992. Tecnologia da PUCRS, Sér. Zool. 16 (1): 17-37. 2003. ZAMPROGNO, C.; M.G.F. ZAMPROGNO; and T. LEMA. LEMA, T. Description of a new species of Apostolepis Contribuição ao conhecimento de Apostolepis cearensis Cope 1861 (Serpentes, Elapomorphine) from Brazilian Gomes, 1915, serpente fossorial do Brasil (Colubridae: Cerrado. Acta Biologica Leopoldensia 26 (1): 155-160. Elapomorphinae). Acta Biológica Leopoldensia 20 92): 2004. 207-216. 1998.

Appendix (LPH.52, LPH.53, LPH.54, LPH.55, LPH.56; MHNCI.355, Specimens examined. Key: IBSP, Instituto Butantan, São MHNCI.904; MCTP.1754, MCTP.1755; MZUSP.3841, Paulo; MCNRS, Museu de Ciências Naturais, Porto Alegre, MZUSP.3845; MCTP.4084, MCTP.4372; MHNCI.6388). Rio Grande do Sul; MHNCI, Museu de História Natural Vespasiano (FUNED.4). Mato Grosso do Sul: Cam- de Capão da Imbuia, Curititba, Paraná; MNRJ, Museu Na- po Grande (CHAFB.213, CHAFB.423, CHAFB.424, cional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. MCTP.2490, MCTP.2491), Sta. Fe (MHNCI.6719), Sta. Apostolepis parassimilis sp. n. Mônica (MCTP.4174). Itatiaiuçu (FUNED.510). Mato Gros- Brazil: Bahia (MNRJ.6524, paratype). Minas Gerais: Uber- so: Chapada dos Guimarães (IBUFRJ w/n), Buriti (ERC lândia (MCNRS.8535, holotype; MHNCI.904). Goiás: w/n; IBSP.5346), Cachoeira das Andorinhas (UFMT.2085). Cana Brava (IBSP.9154); Ilha do Bananal: Santa Isabel Cuiabá; Agrícola Gustavo Dutra (MNRJ.2031). Santa (IBSP.12324, IBSP.13324). São Paulo: Mayrink (IBSP.49429). Catarina: Florianópolis: Ilba de Sta. Catarina (BGSS.5344, 76 Without locality (IBSP.43960). BGSS.5345, BGSS.5346). São Paulo: Bauru (MHNCI.4790). Apostolepis assimilis Cabreuva (MCTP.7305). Campo Largo (IBSP.4498). Campo Brazil. Distrito Federal: Brasília (CHUNB.1418). Goiás: Limpo (IBSP.6532, IBSP.7654). Cotia (MCTP.7303). Itatiba Aragarças (MNRJ.21). Cana Brava (IBSP.9154). Catalão (IBSP.5703). Itu (IBSP.4180; MHNCI.6969), Fazenda Pau (MCTP.5446). Planaltina (CHUNB.34). Minas Gerais: d’Alho (IBSP.6606). Jundiaí (DZSP.109). Mooca (DZSP.115). Cassilândia (MHNCI.748). Caxambu (IBSP.816). Entre Osasco (MCTP.64; MCTP.110; MCTP.112, CHUNB.6141). Rios de Minas (FUNED.691). Ibirité (FUNED.603). Lam- Piraçununga (IBSP.2761). Poá (IBSP.7515). Santo Amaro bari (DZSP.113, DZSP.114). Moeda, near Belo Horizonte (IBSP.1636). São Bernardo (DZSP.116). São João da Boa (FUNED.2). Nova Lima (FUNED.550). Passa Quatro Vista (IBSP.6926). São Paulo (MCTP.109, MCTP.6867; (IBSP.3274). Serra do Cipó (MZUSP.7595). Serra do Es- IBP.8449). São Roque: (MCTP.7302, MCTP.7304), Tubarão pinhaço: Capão dos Porcos Farm (ZMK.63806, holo- (MHNCI.4495, MHNCI.4496, MHNCI.4497). Sorocaba type of A. assimilis). Uberabinha (IBSP.888). Uberlândia (MHNCI.6970; MCTP.7301).

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