Rediscovery and redescription of the rare, critically endangered snake Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), with comments on its natural history, distribution, and phylogenetic relationships

Abstract

Rediscovery and redescription of the rare, critically endangered snake Emmochliophis miops (Serpentes: Colubridae), with comments on its natural history, distribution, and phylogenetic relationships. The description of Emmochliophis miops is based on a single specimen from the Andean slopes of northwest Ecuador collected in 1897. The species had not been collected again until October 2017, when two individuals were found on the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia; this rediscovery is the first record of this species in this country. Herein, the holotype and the new specimens are examined, and a new diagnosis and description of E. miops are provided. Important data about the natural history and conservation status of the species, and comments on the systematic relationships of Diaphorolepis, Emmochliophis and Synophis are presented.