Tetracheilostomina Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch, New Subtribe
Creators
- 1. Department of Biology, 208 Mueller Lab, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 - 5301 USA.
- 2. Bayworld, P. O. Box 13147, Humewood 6013, South Africa
- 3. Laboratoire ECOLAG, UMR 5119, Université Montpellier II, cc 093, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
- 4. Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Zoology Department, 2401 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73072, USA Corresponding author. E-mail: sbh 1 @ psu. edu
Description
Subtribe Tetracheilostomina Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch, New Subtribe
Type genus. Tetracheilostoma Jan, 1861: 191.
Diagnosis. Tetracheilostomina is distinguished from the other two subtribes of Epictini by usually having four supralabials (two in Epictina and 2–3 in Renina) (Table 2). The support for this group was 100% BP and 100% PP for the four-gene tree (Fig. 3); only one of the two genera was included in the nine-gene tree (Fig. 4).
Content. Two genera and seven species (Table 1; Fig. 7).
Distribution. Tetracheilostomina is distributed in the West Indies: on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, and on Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Barbados in the Lesser Antilles.
Remarks. Tetracheilostomina includes species in the former " bilineatus Group" of " Leptotyphlops " (Hedges 2008; Thomas 1965; Thomas et al. 1985). The high number (four) of supralabials is rare among leptotyphlopids, otherwise occurring only in Rhinoleptus. As a unifying character for this West Indian radiation it is further supported by the molecular phylogeny (Fig. 3). However, the included species are considerably divergent in other scale characters, body size, and coloration. The species from Hispaniola have a high number of middorsal scales, are thin, and pale brown or pink in color. In contrast, the Lesser Antillean species have a low number of middorsals, are stout, and dark brown in color with dull yellowish stripes. The molecular phylogeny supports the distinction of these two groups of species and we recognize them here at the generic level.
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Related works
- Is part of
- Journal article: http://publication.plazi.org/id/F21DFF9BFF9CFFB0FF993047FF95FFD5 (URL)
- Is source of
- https://sibils.text-analytics.ch/search/collections/plazi/0E2487E3FF89FFA5FF0E30D0FEF5FC8A (URL)
Biodiversity
- Family
- Leptotyphlopidae
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Order
- Squamata
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Scientific name authorship
- Hedges, Adalsteinsson, & Branch
- Taxonomic status
- subtrib. nov.
- Taxon rank
- subTribe
- Taxonomic concept label
- Tetracheilostomina Adalsteinsson, Branch & Hedges, 2009
References
- Jan, G. (1861) Note sulla famiglia dei tiflopidi sui loro generi e sulle specie del genere Stenostoma. Archivio Per La Zoologia, L'Anatomia E La Fisiologia, 1, 178 - 199.
- Hedges, S. B. (2008) At the lower limit of size in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata: Leptotyphlopidae: Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles. Zootaxa, 1841, 1 - 30.
- Thomas, R. (1965) The genus Leptotyphlops in the West Indies with the description of a new species from Hispaniola (Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae). Breviora, Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1 - 12.
- Thomas, R., McDiarmid, R. W. & Thompson, F. G. (1985) Three new species of thread snakes (Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae) from Hispaniola. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 98, 204 - 220.