First records of Phalotris sansebastiani Jansen and Köhler , 2008 ( Serpentes : Dipsadidae ) from Argentina 3-FML 17657 : Embarcación

Phalotris sansebastiani (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) was described from three localities in the Provincia Ñuflo de Chávez of eastern lowlands of Bolivia (Jansen and Köhler 2008). The species belongs to the Phalotris tricolor group of the genus, characterized by rounded rostral; 1+1 temporals and red or chested dorsal color, without dark or black longitudinal lines (although black dots in the dorsum may design a vertebral line); two postcephalic collar more than three scales wide, the anterior white and the posterior black; venter white to yellowish; hemipenis bilobed or slightly bilobed (Ferrarezzi 1993; Jansen and Köhler 2008; our observations). The group includes five species (Phalotris mertensi, P. tricolor, P. cuyanus, P. matogrossensis and P. sansebastiani); only P. tricolor and P. cuyanus (endemic) were previously mentioned in Argentinean fauna (Giraudo and Scrocchi 2002; Leynaud et al. 2005). During the description of a new species and the revision of the Argentinean material of the genus, we found four specimens of Phalotris sansebastiani from northern Argentina (Figure 1). The localities of Argentinean specimens are in the Yungas phytogeographic province characterized by cloud forest with warm and humid climate, with aestival rains and hibernal frosts, which is very different of the area of the species in Bolivia where inhabits Cerrado habitats and Chiquitano Dry Forest. Material examined: specimens revised are all from the Herpetological Collection of Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina and the Instituto Nacional de Limnología (INALI, CONICET, UNL) Santa Fe, Argentina. The number before the specimen’s data is used as reference in the Figure 1.

Phalotris sansebastiani (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) was described from three localities in the Provincia Ñuflo de Chávez of eastern lowlands of Bolivia (Jansen and Köhler 2008).The species belongs to the Phalotris tricolor group of the genus, characterized by rounded rostral; 1+1 temporals and red or chested dorsal color, without dark or black longitudinal lines (although black dots in the dorsum may design a vertebral line); two postcephalic collar more than three scales wide, the anterior white and the posterior black; venter white to yellowish; hemipenis bilobed or slightly bilobed (Ferrarezzi 1993;Jansen and Köhler 2008;our observations).The group includes five species (Phalotris mertensi, P. tricolor, P. cuyanus, P. matogrossensis and P. sansebastiani); only P. tricolor and P. cuyanus (endemic) were previously mentioned in Argentinean fauna (Giraudo and Scrocchi 2002;Leynaud et al. 2005).
During the description of a new species and the revision of the Argentinean material of the genus, we found four specimens of Phalotris sansebastiani from northern Argentina (Figure 1).The localities of Argentinean specimens are in the Yungas phytogeographic province characterized by cloud forest with warm and humid climate, with aestival rains and hibernal frosts, which is very different of the area of the species in Bolivia where inhabits Cerrado habitats and Chiquitano Dry Forest.
Material examined: specimens revised are all from the Herpetological Collection of Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina and the Instituto Nacional de Limnología (INALI, CONICET, UNL) Santa Fe, Argentina.The number before the specimen's data is used as reference in the Figure 1.
Abstract: Phalotris sansebastiani is recorded for the first time in Argentina based on five specimens from Jujuy and Salta provinces, and its characters are compared with Argentinean specimens of P. tricolor.Phalotris sansebastiani is sympatric with P. tricolor, and they are very similar in lepidosis and coloration (all the P. sansebastiani cited here, were misidentified as P. tricolor in the collections).Due to this we compare them, and our comparisons reveal that the diagnostic characters between them are actually more variable than mentioned by Jansen and Köhler (2008).The variation will be thoroughly studied in the Argentinean genus' revision, but some observations can be discussed here, using only the specimens of P. tricolor mentioned in the material list.
None of the specimens of P. sansebastiani has the triangular projection of the red snout coloration as marked as in the photo of the original description; all specimens clearly shows the triangular area lighter than the rest of the head, but in all of them there are some black spots or areas within the triangle.
According Jansen and Köhler (2008), the black collar of P. tricolor reaches onto ventrals and in some specimens forms a complete ring; in P. sansebastiani reaches the first dorsal scale row or the extreme tip of ventrals.In specimens of P. tricolor FML 02310, 02501 and 06584, the black collar does not reach the ventrals.
The ventral area of the head of P. tricolor is not completely black as mentioned by the cited authors.While some specimens have this character, most of them have black spots in different extentions, but they do not completely cover the ventral face of the head.
The Figures 2, 3 and 4 shows the coloration of specimens of P. sansebastiani from northern Argentina (FML 15971 and INALI 4342).
All specimens of both species have: 6 supralabials with 2 nd and 3 rd entering the orbit; loreal absent; narina in the center of nasal scale; 1 preocular; 2 postoculars; dorsals in 15-15-15 rows and divided anal.Table 1 shows characters that varies.
All other characters that separates both species are, in our material, as mentioned in Jansen and Köhler (2008).Here we present the first Argentinean records of Phalotris sansebastiani, a species of the tricolor group of the genus.As the species is sympatric with the morphologically similar P. tricolor, we compare them, and point out the characters that differs with the diagnostic ones provides by Jansen and Köhler (2008).