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O CC A S IO N A L P A P E R S O F T H E M U S E U M O FZ O O L O G Y

U N I V E R S IT Y O F M I C H IG A N

A N N A R B O R ,MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYF MICHIGAN RESS

ATRACTUS SANCTAEMARTAE A N E W S P E C I E S O FS N A K E F R O M THE S I E R R A N E V A D A

DE S A N T A M A R T A , C O L O M B I A

TIIANKS o th e ail thorit ies of th e Museu m of Co m para tive Zool-ogy M.C.Z.) , the Carneg ie Museum C.M.), an d the Museumof Zoology of the U niv ers ity of Mich igan U.M .M.Z.), I havebeen able to s t ud y an d com pare s ix teen specimens 1Atractusf ro m the S a nt a M ar ta region of Colombia. Te n of t liese ar ef rom the i io r th~ ves te rn o rncr of the inass i f:

Rio F rio , M.C.Z. No. 32766, a ra ilro ad statio n i t h e b a n a n azone, exact alt i tude nnkiiowii, but well below 500 meters.A m ar al 1928 7-8) l is tecl 693 snake sp ec im e~ is r o m R io F r io ,b u t n o Atractzts is among them.

Minea, C. M. No. 201; 2000 feet.Taqua, U.M.M.Z. No. 54946; 5300 feet.E l Libano, C.M. No. 213 6000 feet.Vista Nieve, U.M.M.Z. No. 63774; a plantation with grounds

exte ndin g frorn 3000 to 8000 feet.S a ~ i oren zo, U.M.M.Z. Nos. 47739-41, 54945, 5567 5; 4000-

6500 feet. Th is i s the name of th e nor th ~v es t e rnmouiitaiii ofthe massif . R io F r i o i s a t i t s base , an d th e o ther loca l it iesmentioned ar e on i t s s lopes.

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2 E ~ rzett e id D ~ ~ L I L Occ. P a p e ~ sS ix specimens ar e fro m th e nlicldle of the s o~ ltl ie rn ac e ofthe massif :S a n Seb astia n, M.C.Z. Nos. 6525, 6531-33 a n d U.M.M.Z. Nos.48298 a n d 85595. Th e town is a t a n alt i tu de of 6500 feet.U.M.M.Z. No. 85595 is stat ed to be f ro m 6000 feet.The two Carnegie Museum specinlens were collected by

11 H Smit l i in 1898 a i id were repor ted under the name ofAtract7ts badius Bo ie) by Griffin 1916 172 ). l tuthv eii1922 66) repo rted as At ra ct z~ s r idescejzs Peracea ten speci-mens then in the collec tions of Michigan an d H arv ard . haveseen most if not all of these, as I have exanlined eleven speci-m en s i n these collectioizs talcen before 1922 M .C.Z. Nos. 6531-33, 6525, U.M.M.Z. No. 48298, talcen by W W B rown i11 1899;U.M.M.Z. Nos. 4 77 3 94 1 , 54945-46, 55675, talcell by I tu thvena n d Carrilcer, 1913-21). These speciinens seem to representa n undescribed species fo r which propose the nam e

Atractus sanctaemartae new speciesTYPE.-U.M.M.Z. NO. 48298, a n ad u lt fem ale collected a tSail Sebastiaiz on J u l y 25, 1899.DESCRIPTION.-All sixteen agree in having a single anal;

f irst pa ir of lower labials in co ntact ; a single p ai r of geneials ;seven up per lab ia ls , the th i rd an d fo ur th in o rb i t ; no preocu-l a r ; a very e longate and narrow loreal ; emporals 1-2 ; nte r -nasals mu ch smaller th an prefr onta ls ; 17 dorsal scale rows.Ru thv en sa id tha t one of the ten examined by him ha d f i fteendors al scale rows. No such specimen is a t prese nt in the col-lections of Michigan or of Ha rv ar d. A tendency to reduc tionof th e up p er labial c ou nt is noticeable i n U.M.M.Z. No. 47741,in which the le f t f i f th is reduced in s ize and the f ou r th malcescontact with the sixt h above it . Var iation is more considerablein the t r a i t s now to be deta iled.

P o ~ T o c ~ L A R ~ . - ~ ~ ~he snakes examined have two postocn-la rs with t he exceptions of U.M.M.Z. No. 47740 which ha s thr eeon the right side aiid U.M.M.Z. No. 54946 which has a singlescale on th e l eft side.

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No 49 ew pecies of Snake from olombiaUPPER ECOND T E M P O R A L . - T ~ ~ Ss a short scale followed byone or two s imilar scales borde ring the p arie tal on ten of th e

th ir ty- two head s ides ; i t i s a long scale reaching to the t ip ofthe parietal on twenty-two s ides .LOW ER ABIAL -Six lower labials ar e present on the lef t s ideof U.M.M.Z. No. 47741 ; even ar e pre sen t oil twenty-five sides ;eight are present on one side only of M.C.Z. Nos. 6525, 6531,6532,6533, atid on bo th sides of M.C.Z. No. 32766. find am on gth e early M .C.Z. a nd U.M.M.Z. specimens the same num ber ofcvainples wi th 6-7 (one) an d 7-8 (f ou r) tha t R uth ve n re-ported. find six with 7-7 (h e rep orte d f o u r) none with 8-8(h e rep o r ted o n e ) .L OWE R BI LS IN C O N T A C T WITH G E N E I A L S . - T ~ ~ ~ ~r f o u rof the lower labials m ay be i n contact w i th the chin shields.When e igh t lower labials are prese nt f ou r ar e in such contact .F o u r make contact in three of the specimens with seven labials,a nd also in the one with s ix labials . The m ajo ri ty ( twenty-twoout of thirty-two sides) have seven labials , three in contactwith the geneials .VENTRALS ND CAUDALS.-Males fr om the nor thw est:

U.M.M.Z. 47741 159 vent. 36 cau d.U.M.M.Z. 55675 15 4 ve nt. 34 caud.C.M. 201 152 vent. 30 caud.U.M.M.Z. 54946 156 vent. 33 caud.Males fro m th e sou th slope

M.C.Z. 6533 158 ve nt. 34 cau d.The average male ~rent 'al count is 155.8. The average fo rthe fo ur northw estern specimens is 155.2 . The average caud al

co un t is 34.25.Females f rom the i~or t l imes t

C.M. 215 148 vent. 28 cau d.U.M.M.Z. 54945 154 vent. 23 caud.U.M.M.Z. 63774 159 ve nt. 23 ca ud .M.C.Z. 32766 163 vent . 27 caud.

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nznzett Reid D z ~ nz Occ PapersFemales from the south slope

M.C.Z. 6532 163 vent. 25 cand.U.M.M.Z. 48298 166 vent. 27 caud.M.C.Z. 6531 168 vent. 26 caud.M.C.Z. 6525 170 vent. 22 caud.U.M.M.Z. 85595 171 vent. 26 cand.The average female ventral couiit is 162.2. The average

ventral count for the ilorthwestern specimens is 156. Theaverage ventral co~ultor the souther11 specimens is 167.6. Theaverage caudal count is 25.22.In the genus tractzts and its relatives it is a general rulefor the females to have more ventral scales than the males.C.M. NO. 215, an almost mature female, is therefore an anom-a . Even without this specimen it is still apparent that theventral count is higher oil specimens from the south slope. Astake the first median scale behind the geneials as the firstventral my counts are slightly higher than those given byRuthven.

S~m.-The largest female, U.M.M.Z. No. 48298, measures 600mm. ; ail, 59 mm. The largest male, U.M.M.Z. No. 54946, meas-ures 410 mm. tail, 55 mm.COLORATION.-At ne extreme the dorsuin is light with vividmarkings of narrow irregular black crossbars M.C.Z. Nos.32766, 6532, U.M.M.Z. Nos. 47741, 48298, 85595). I n someC.M. No. 215, M.C.Z. No. 6531, U.M.M.Z. Nos. 47740, 54945)the bars are more broken and irregular , whereas ill M.C.Z. No.6533, U.M.M.Z. Nos. 47739, 55675, and 63774, they are scarcelyapparent at all, and the dark pigment is rather irregularlydiffused.At the other extreme are three speciineiis C.M. No. 201,M.C.Z. No. 6525, U.M.M.Z. No. 54946) in which the whole dor-

sal appearance is the reverse of the above: a dark snake witha series of more or less vertically elongated light spots on eachside. The spacing of these spots is approximately the sameas the spacing of the black bars.The light siiakes with vivid dark inarlriilgs loolr extraordi-narily different from the dark silalies with light markings, but

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No 49 A N e w S p e ci es of S ~ z a k e r o ~ n Cololqzbia 5as especially lighter scales are associated with the dark marli-ings, and as some especially darker scales are associated withthe light markings, i t is probably a question of the lightness orclarliness of the bacliground rather than a fundamental changeof pattern.

Ventrally, the majority have dark spotting on a light bacli-gro~uld, sually an arrangement of two spots to a ventral,maliing two rows of ventral spots. I n one example with darkdorsum U.M.M.Z. No. 54946) the belly is black with only afew white fleclis.

There are no distinctive head markings, save that the upperlabials are light and that some light spots mark the centers ofthe upper plates in specimens of the dark phase. In specimensof the light phase there is usually a middorsal dark nape stripe.

DISCUSSION.-Iconsider it probable that these specimens aresamples of a single form of A t r a c t u s , although it would bemore satisfactory to have proof that the two extremes of color-ation either graded into one another or occurred in the samebrood.

These specimens from Santa Marta indicate, think, a popu-lation of A t r n c t u s different fro111 any yet named. The nearestknown populations are those of Ocafia, Norte de Santander

alt itude 1200 in .) , and of MQrida n Venezuela. I have seen11 specimens of the MQrida orm A . er.ythronzelas Bonlenger).The coloration is, apparently, somewhat like that of the dark,light-spotted phase, but the male caudals are fewer 28-31),the male ventrals higher 159-168), and the female ventralsmore numerous 171-186). have seen five specimens fromOcafia A , n d i s t i n c t u s Prado, 1939, and A ver t ebro l inea tusPrado, 1940). Caudals of both nlales 42) and females 35)are more numerous than in the Santa Marta form, and the coloris drab with a dark vertebral line. The female type of i nd i s -t in tus had the nielanin diffused; the male type of ve9.tebl.o-l inea tus had i t concentrated.The reference by Griffin to A bad ius Boie) has the recorn-mendation that the scale counts of the type 154, 36) fit withinthe variatioil of Santa Marta males, but the broacl dark cross-

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6 Entnzett eid z L ~ ~ ~ c c apersbands of typical badius of the Guianas are not present in SantaMarta specimens. A badius has not been reported from Vene-zuela, and the Colombian specimens referred to badius mostof which I have seen, do not agree with the original descrip-tion. I thinlr that a large majority of the populations ofA t r a c t u s will eventually prove to be local races of one wide-spread species, and that badius as the oldest name, will be thename of that species, but this idea cannot yet be substantiated.

The reference by Ruthven to A ir idescens Peracca has thefollowing defects: the scale counts of the type (135, 40) areoutside the variation of Santa Marta specimens ; the colorationof the type is not matched by any Santa Marta specimen; thetype of ir idescens was from South America, and I have seenno Colombian specimeils which fit the description. I havecaught and examined specinieils of the Choc6 form whichBoulenger referred t o ir idescens. I t has no resemblance tothe Santa Marta specimens, nor does it agree in markings withthe description of iridescelzs. Iridescence is a common charac-teristic of A t r a c t u s in general.

L I T E R A T U R E C I T E DA M A R A L , F R ~ X I OO1928 Studies of Xeo tropical Oph idia. XI. S n a ke s fr o m t h e S a n t a

Marta Region, Colombia. Bnll . Antiven. Ins t i t . Amer. ,2 1) 7-8.GRIFFIN, E

1 9 16 A C a t a lo g of t h e Op h id i a f ro m S o u th Am er ica a t P re s en tJune , 1916) Con ta ined in the Carneg ie Museum, wi thDescriptions of Sonie New Species. Bfem. Ca rne gie Mus.,7 : 163-227, pl.RUTHVEN,~ L E S S N D E R G.

1922 The Amphib ians and Rep t i les o f the S ier ra Nevada de Sa l i t aM arta , Colombia. lfisc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Mioh., 8:1-69, 12 pls.

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