Tantilla excelsa

description

Description of holotype. — An adult male; TOL 400 mm; SVL 305 mm; TAL 95 mm (23.8 % of TOL); HL 9.8 mm; HW 5.5 mm (level of angle of mouth); head barely distinct from neck; snout broadly rounded in dorsal view; eye length 1.3 mm; snout length 3.0 mm, about 2.3 times longer than eye; pupil circular; rostral about 1.1 times wider than high (2.2 X 2.0 mm); internasal length about 0.8 times width (1.1 X 1.4 mm); prefrontal larger than internasal, wider than long (2.2 X 1.5 mm); median prefrontal suture 1.4 mm, about half as long as frontal; frontal with slight anterior extension, Vshaped posteriorly, about 1.0 times longer than wide (2.9 X 2.8 mm), about 1.0 times longer than distance from its anterior edge to tip of snout (2.9 X 2.8 mm); parietal about 1.5 times longer than wide (4.1 X 2.8 mm), median parietal suture length 3.0 mm, about 1.0 times longer than length of frontal (2.9 mm); parietals contacting five nuchal scales; supraocular about 1.6 times longer than wide (2.3 X 1.4 mm), bordering orbit, contacting parietal, upper postocular, preocular, frontal, and prefrontal. Nasal divided, anterior nasal contacting rostral, internasal, and supralabial 1, posterior nasal contacting i

A Review of the Tantilla taeniata Species Group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae) in Honduras, with the Description of Three New Species

diagnosis

Diagnosis. — Tantilla excelsa (in preservative) is defined by the following combination of characters: (1) pale middorsal stripe tan, extending length of body and at least half of tail, stripe on vertebral row and adjacent halves of paravertebral rows throughout its length; (2) tan to white lateral stripe occupying adjacent halves of scale rows 3 and 4; (3) ventrolateral area similar in pale color to that of lateral stripe; (4) lower two-thirds anteriorly and about lower third posteriorly of scale row 1 white similar to that of ventrals; (5) lateral edges of ventrals white, no, or very few, dark spots present; (6) ventral and subcaudal surfaces yellow (shortly after death) and white; (7) two females with 161 – 178 ventrals, single male with 169 ventrals, subcaudals 61 in one female, 70 in male; (8) tail length 23 % of total length in one female, 24 % in male. Tantilla excelsa can be distinguished from T. taeniata by having 169 ventrals in single male, 161 – 178 in two females, and by having yellow ventral surfaces in life (vs. 141 – 152 ventrals in males and 150 in single known female, and ventral surfaces pale purplish pink grading to darker salmon color on posterior two-thirds of

A Review of the Tantilla taeniata Species Group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae) in Honduras, with the Description of Three New Species

distribution

Distribution and habitat. — Very little is known about the habitats of Tantilla excelsa. The holotype was killed by a worker at the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens during February. The UF specimen was taken after dark as it was crawling on the ground on a coffee farm during May. The UMMZ specimen was collected on 27 March 1923 and possibly came from an insect trap (G. Schneider, personal communication). No data are available for the MCZ paratype other than it was collected in 1925. The Lancetilla Botanical Gardens formerly contained Lowland Moist Forest and lies at 30 m elevation. The coffee farm is in an area formerly containing Premontane Wet Forest and lies at 700 m elevation. The remaining two localities are in Lowland Dry Forest, although more mesic corridors of gallery forest do occur in those areas. Thus, T. excelsa is known to occur at low and moderate elevations (30 – 700 m) on both sides of the Río Ulúa drainage, and from the vicinity of Lago de Yojoa, Cortés, to the north-northeast in the vicinity of Lancetilla, Atlántida (Fig. 5).

A Review of the Tantilla taeniata Species Group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae) in Honduras, with the Description of Three New Species

etymology

Etymology. — The specific name excelsa is an adjective from the Latin excelsus, which in this case means high. The name refers to the relatively high number of ventral scales in this nominal form.

A Review of the Tantilla taeniata Species Group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae) in Honduras, with the Description of Three New Species