Redescrição preliminar de pseudoboa coronata schneider, 1801, da Amazônia oriental (serpentes: colubridae: xenodontinae: pseudoboini)

Abstract

The false coral snake Pseudoboa coronata Schneider, 1801, has a wide geographic distribution, occurring throughout the Amazon region, but it is of low frequency in collections, perhaps due to collection deficiency, resulting from the little information available on its habits and habitats. Due to its infrequency in collections, its systematic characterization is summary, and there is no publication that uses more than ten specimens for this purpose. The possibility of examining 32 specimens from the Herpetological Collection of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) favored a detailed analysis of the variations in the systematic characteristics of the species presented previously, considering that new specimens should be analyzed for a more consistent specific characterization. The specimens deposited at MPEG (20 males and 12 females) were analyzed considering traditional characters of lepidose, of coloration, besides others, not yet considered for the species, such as those of the hemipennis (N=2), and those of osteology (N=3), besides those of external morphometry. We obtained: 1 - morphometric characterization; 2 - hemipenial description with illustration; 3 - description of the maxillary bone; 4 - medium-sized species (largest specimen = 108.8 in); 5 - 180 to 199 ventral scales (N=31); 6 -77 to 103 subcaudal scales (N=29); 7 -17 (N=29), 16 (N=I), 15(N=I) or 14 (Ne l ) rows of posterior dorsal scales; 8 - clear sexual dimorphism related to the number of subcaudal scales (females: 77-86, N=12; males 89-103, N=17); in addition to other characteristics. The results obtained, although preliminary, provided a better characterization of the species, with a consequent change in its systematic diagnosis.