Revisão taxonômica de Dipsas Laurentis, 1768 (Serpentes, Colubridae) de ocorrência na Mata Atlântica

Abstract

The taxonomic revision of Dipsas from the Atlantic forest Is given based on morphological and hemipennial data as well as on geographical distribution. The involved species are: Dipsas albifrons (Sauvage, 1884), D. catesby (Sentzen, 1796), D. incerta (Jan, 1863), D. petersi Hoge & Romano, 1975, D. neivai Amaral, 1923 and Dipsas sp. The principal results obtained are: 1) Description of a new species of the indica group with occurrence in the southeast Brazil associated to semidecidual and decidual forests; 2) the realocation of D. indica bucephala (Shaw, 1802) in the sinonimy of D. indica indica Laurenti, 1768; 3) the elevation of D. indica petersi Hoge & Romano, 1975 to the species levei; 4) the redescription of Dipsas albifrons, D. catesby, D. incerta, D. petersi e D. neivai, with the extension of knowledge on meristic characters variation and on geographical distribution of the involved species; 5) confirmation of the presence of D. catesby (Sentzen, 1796) in the Atlantic forest; and 6) acquisition of knowledge on reproductive period of Dipsas albifrons, D. incerta, D. petersi e D. neivai e Dipsas sp., that revealed to be aseasonal, oviparous, and that the groups of eggs in oviducts range between 1-9.