An updated diagnosis of the rare Amphisbaena slateri Boulenger, 1907, based on additional specimens (Squamata, Amphisbaenia, Amphisbaenidae)

Henrique C Costa,Jakob Hallermann,Luke J Welton

doi:10.3897/evolsyst.2.28059

Abstract

Amphisbaenaslateriis a rare species of worm lizard from Peru and Bolivia, known only from three specimens. We found two additional specimens of this taxon, housed at the herpetological collections of the Zoological Museum (Cenak), Universität Hamburg, and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, updating its known geographic distribution and morphological variation. We also discovered an unpublished manuscript by late Carl Gans reporting the finding of the Hamburg specimen, which we reproduce here with the permission of his family.Amphisbaenaslaterican be identified by a combination of characters including counts of annuli, segments, and pores, the shape of head scales and color pattern. Basic morphological data is given for all species of Amphisbaenia known for Bolivia and Peru to aid in the identification of specimens from those countries.

Highlights

Amphisbaena slateri was described more than a century ago based on a single specimen from southern Peru, deposited in the British Museum, London, UK (BM) (Boulenger 1907)
Morphology of ZMH R01282 and KUH 135171 is within the range described for most characters of Amphisbaena slateri, but slightly increases the maximum values of snout-vent length, number of body annuli, and caudal annuli (Table 1)
Expanding comparisons to all Neotropical amphisbaenians, we find an overlap of most morphological character states between A. slateri and A. albocingulata Boettger, 1885, A. darwinii Duméril & Bibron, 1839, A. hogei Vanzolini, 1950, A. manni Barbour, 1914, A. mensae Castro-Mello, 2000, A. munoai Klappenbach, 1960, A nigricauda Gans, 1966, A. prunicolor (Cope, 1885), A. schmidti Gans, 1964, and A. talisiae Vanzolini, 1995

Summary

Introduction

Amphisbaena slateri was described more than a century ago based on a single specimen from southern Peru, deposited in the British Museum, London, UK (BM) (Boulenger 1907). The species was redescribed after the discovery of two specimens from Bolivia, housed in the Zoological Museum, Universität Hamburg (ZMH), and the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany (ZMB) (Gans 1967). No relevant information on A. slateri has been published. While searching for data of the three known specimens of Amphisbaena slateri, the senior author was informed about the existence of another specimen housed at the ZMH, and a specimen at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute (KUH). ZMH R01282 was cited as A. slateri in a checklist of amphibians and reptiles of the lower Llullapichis River (Schlüter et al 2004) without further information. The Kansas specimen (KUH 135171) was identified as A. slateri in the collection database, but apparently, no one had noticed its importance to the knowledge on the taxonomy and distribution of the species, and it was never cited in the published literature

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Conclusion