Reptilia , Squamata , Serpentes , Colubridae , Urotheca decipiens : Distribution extension

Extensive field work and recent taxonomic studies have contributed to a general knowledge of the herpetofaunal diversity in Colombia (AcostaGalvis 2000, Renjifo and Lundberg 1999, Sánchez-C et al. 2001). However, there are many areas in the country without adequate inventories, which reflects in the description of new species of amphibians and reptiles, and records of species previously unreported for Colombia or a given region. Here we increase the range distribution of Urotheca decipiens (Colubridae), a terrestrial dark brown snake of humid lowland and premontane forests (Savage 2002).

On 23 July 2006, one individual of Urotheca decipiens was found dead on the road by F. Vargas (Figure 1A) in the Reserva Forestal Bosque de Yotoco (03º52'62.0"N, 76º26'18.8"W; ca.1,600 m).On 26 September 2006, another individual was collected by C. Giraldo and F. Castro in the Vereda Chicoral, Municipio La Cumbre (03º34' N, 76º36' W; 1,800 m) (Figure 1B).Reviews of the herpetological material in the Museo de Herpetología at the Universidad del Valle, Cali-Colombia produced an unreported individual of U. decipiens collected on 24 February 1997 by Taran Grant at the Hacienda San Pedro, Corregimiento Queremal, Municipio Dagua (03º29' N, 76º42' W; 1,650 m).Another specimen was collected by W. Bolivar at Serranía de los Paraguas, Cerro del Inglés (4º44' N, 76º18' W), but this record lacks a voucher.All those localities are sub Andean forests in the eastern slope of the western cordillera of the Andes in the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.Voucher specimens are housed in the Museo de Herpetología, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia (UVC 13548, UVC 15655, and UVC 15656).
Morphological characters of the specimens examined are shown in Table 1 and Figure 2. The color pattern in life of the head of all specimens lacks a nuchal collar crossing the parietal scales (Figure 1B), but they possess a black-bordered pale supralabial stripe, and at each side of the head a small white spot is present (Figure 1C, Figure 2).The midbody pattern is brown with a white line between the first and second dorsal scale rows; there was no line on row 5, as has been reported for some specimens in Central America.This color pattern in head and midbody is in accord with descriptions of Myers (1974) and Savage (2002) for U. decipiens.However, our specimens have a red-orange tone on the ventral scales (Figure 1), and one of them (UVC 15655) has some scattered brown spots in the midventer.This red-orange tone is an unreported variation of ventral coloration for U. decipiens.
We do not know species in the department of Valle del Cauca that can be easily confused with Urotheca decipiens (Castro-H.and Vargas-S., unpublished data).Just Synophis plectoventralis (Sheil & Grant, 2001) may be confused with U. decipiens because: 1) both species have been recorded in Hacienda San Pedro, Corregimiento Queremal, Municipio Dagua, western Andes; 2) both species are active in leaf litter; and 3) S. plectoventralis have a cream line stripe in supralabials.However, S. plectoventralis have a conspicuous nuchal collar, gray dorsum, ventral scales cream, prefrontals fused (divided in U. decipiens, see Figures 1B and 2), and a reduction in dorsal scale rows (19-19-17) (Sheil and Grant 2001), while U. decipiens is 17-17-17 (Myers 1974).In adjacent departments to the Valle del Cauca (Chocó and Cauca) there are two snake species (Urotheca dumerilii and Saphenophis ISSN: 1809-127X NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 186 sneiderni, respectively) that could be confused with U. decipiens.A yellowish orange belly has been mentioned for the holotype of Urotheca dumerilii, but that species is easily differentiated from U. decipiens because it has a small pale spot (ocellus) above and behind the corner of the mouth, and a pale line that extends along the lower scale rows from the throat up to the neck (Myers 1974).Differences in hemipenial morphology also are evident under stereoscopy (Myers 1974).Saphenophis sneiderni (Myers 1973) also can be confused with U. decipiens.Both species have a brown dorsum and a white line stripe in supralabials, but they can be differentiated in field because S. sneiderni have a continuous lateral black stripe from the sides of head to the tail (becoming darker and broader before tail) (Myers 1973) while U. decipiens has a white line in the first and second row of dorsal scale (Figure 1C).Further, the number of dorsal scale rows in S. sneiderni varies along the body (two females with 19-17-15 and 17-17-15;Myers 1973) while in U. decipiens the number is constant (17 scales) along the body (Myers 1974).The only previously published record of Urotheca decipiens for Colombia is a juvenile collected in Santa Rita, North Medellín, Central Andes, department of Antioquia, at 2,740 m. (Myers 1974;Perez-Santos and Moreno 1988).Thus, these records of Urotheca decipiens extend the range of the species more than 100 km south, and confirm its presence in the western Andes in Colombia (Figure 3).
The type locality of this species is Ecuador, but it is in doubt.Indeed, Myers (1974) pointed out that the specimen from Ecuador differs in some aspects with specimens of U. decipiens, so it was excluded from his analyses and distribution data.With our records, the representation of the genus Urotheca in the department of Valle del Cauca was increased to three species: U. decipiens in the mountains, and U. fulviceps and U. lateristriga in the Pacific lowlands (Castro-H and Vargas-S, unpublished data).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.A: Specimen of Urotheca decipiens dead on a road that crosses the Reserva Forestal Bosque de Yotoco, UVC 15656, photo by F. Vargas-S.;B: Specimen collected in Vereda Chicoral, Municipio La Cumbre, UVC 15655; C: Lateral view of U. decipiens, note white line in the first and second row of dorsal scale which is absent in S. sneiderni; photos B and C by F. Castro-H.

Table 1 .
Morphological characters in specimens analyzed of Urotheca decipiens.
* Specimen damaged crushed on the road.