Cenaspis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Dipsadinae
Genus: Cenaspis
Campbell, E.N. Smith & Hall, 2018
Species:
C. aenigma
Binomial name
Cenaspis aenigma
Campbell, E.N. Smith & Hall, 2018

Cenaspis aenigma is a species of colubrid snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae and the only member of the monotypic genus Cenaspis. It is endemic to the highlands of western Chiapas, Mexico, where it was described from a single, partially digested male specimen found in the stomach of a Central American coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus). This is referenced in its generic name, as cena is Spanish for "dinner". Despite being partially digested, the specimen still displayed many unique traits, including undivided subcaudals for the full length of the tail, as well as a simple hemipenis completely covered in calyces with a largely non-bifurcated sulcus spermaticus. These traits are not known from any other colubroid snake in the Western Hemisphere.[1][2]

Description

Dorsally, C. aenigma is uniformly pale brown. Ventrally, it is whitish with three dark stripes running the length of the belly on the ventrals, and one dark stripe running the length of the tail in the center of the subcaudals. The total length (including tail) of the holotype is 258 mm (10.2 in).[3]

References

  1. โ†‘ "Home". www.bioone.org. doi:10.1670/18-042. S2CID 91955595. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  2. โ†‘ "MorphoSource". www.morphosource.org. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
  3. โ†‘ Campbell et al. (2018).

Further reading

  • Campbell, Jonathan A.; Smith, Eric N.; Hall, Alexander S. (2018). "Caudals and Calyces: The Curious Case of the Consumed Chiapan Colubroid". Journal of Herpetology 52 (4): 458-471. (Cenaspis, new genus; C. aenigma, new species). (in English, with an abstract in Spanish).
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