A NEW SPECIES OF ATRACTUS (SERPENTES: DIPSADIDAE) FROM THE ANDES OF ECUADOR

A new species of Atractus is described from cloud forests of the extreme northern Ecuadorian Andes, Tulcan County, Carchi Province. Atractus savagei sp. nov. is distinguished from all congeners by the combination of 17 dorsal scale rows, long loreal, six supralabials (third and fourth contacting orbit), seven infralabials (first four contacting chinshields), 5-8 maxillary teeth, 161-165 ventrals in females and 149-154 in males, 23-26 subcaudals in females and 28-33 in males, a brown dorsum with black specks on the margins of scales, two black longitudinal stripes on each side of the body, yellow ventral color of head gradually changing to orange and red toward the back of the body, venter with lateral and median series of black blotches arranged in conspicuous longitudinal stripes, moderate body size, a long tail in males, and a moderately bilobed, barely capitate, and slightly calyculate hemipenis. Based on shared morphological characters, especially hemipenial features, we propose to tentatively allocate the new species to the A. paucidens group.