Elapotinus

Elapotinus is a monotypic genus created for the rear-fanged snake species, Elapotinus picteti. The species is endemic to Madagascar.[1] It is also known commonly as Jan's snake in honor of Italian herpetologist Giorgio Jan.[2] There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.[3]

Elapotinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Elapotinus
Jan, 1862
Species:
E. picteti
Binomial name
Elapotinus picteti
Jan, 1862

Description (diagnosis) of genus

Maxillary very short, with five teeth gradually increasing in size and followed, after an interspace, by a large grooved fang situated below the eye. Mandibular teeth decreasing in size posteriorly. Head small, not distinct from neck. Eye minute, with round pupil. Nostril between two nasals. No loreal. Body cylindrical; tail short. Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, in 17 rows. Ventrals rounded; subcaudals in two rows.[4]

Description of species

Dorsally Elapotinus picteti is blackish, with a white upper lip and a white occipital collar. It has a white lateral line on either side. Ventrally it is brown, with the outer ends of the ventrals and adjacent first row of dorsal scales white.

It is known to attain a total length of 29 cm (11 3⁄8 in), with a tail 4 cm (1 1⁄2 in) long.

Dorsal scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 175; anal plate divided; subcaudals 36, also divided.

Rostral broader than deep, just visible from above. Internasals as long as broad, shorter than the prefrontals. Frontal 1½ times as long as broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals. Supraocular nearly as broad as long. Preocular minute. A small postocular. Temporals 1+2. Seven upper labials, third in contact with the prefrontal, third and fourth entering the eye. Four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Anterior chin shields a little longer than the posterior chin shields.[4]

Etymology

The specific name or epithet, picteti, is in honor of François Jules Pictet de la Rive, a Swiss zoologist and palaeontologist.[5]

See also

References
  1. Kucharzewski, Christoph; Raselimanana, Achille; Wang, Cynthia; Glaw, Frank (2014). "A taxonomic mystery for more than 150 years: Identity, systematic position and Malagasy origin of the snake Elapotinus picteti Jan, 1862, and synonymy of Exallodontophis Cadle, 1999 (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae)". Zootaxa. 3852 (2): 179–202. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3852.2.2.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (26 July 2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. JHU Press. p. 133. ISBN 9781421401355.
  3. "Elapotinus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  4. Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus Elapotinus and species E. picteti, pp. 244-245).
  5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Elapotinus picteti, p. 207).

Further reading
  • Jan G (1862). "Enumerazione sistematico delle specie d'ofidi del gruppo Calamaridae ". Arch. Zool. Anat. Fisiol. 2: 1-176. (Elapotinus, new genus, p. 31). (in Italian).
  • Jan G (1865). Iconographie Général des Ophidiens, livraison 13. Paris: Baillière. Index + Plates I-VI. (Elapotinus picteti, Plate III, figure 1). (in French).
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