The Pantepui is a remote, biodiverse region made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, The Lost World. In a recent article, Kok and Means (2023) describe the new species, Paikwaophis kruki (Dipsadidae: Xenodontinae). It was recently collected in the Pantepui cloud forest that sits at the base of the steep cliffs of Roraima-tepui and Wei-Assipu-tepui (table mountains of the Eastern Tepui Chain) in Guyana, South America. Multilocus molecular data strongly support Paikwaophis gen. nov. to be most closely related to Xenopholis Peters, 1869, although both genera are strikingly different morphologically. Osteological and other phenotypic data suggest that Paikwaophis is semi-fossorial; its diet includes minute lizards. Paikwaophis is currently the only known Pantepui endemic snake genus. The immature female holotype is the only known specimen.
Paikwaophis kruki is a rare species of aglyphous dipsadid, known only from the recently collected female holotype and probably restricted to the Eastern Pantepui District cloud forest in the Guiana Shield highlands. Its closest known relative is the genus Xenopholis, an opisthoglyphous Xenodontinae characterized by unique and distinctive vertebrae (neural spines expanded laterally, forming rugose shields divided by a median groove). Xenopholis is widespread in South America and currently contains three species. The two genera are strikingly different both morphologically and osteologically. The skeletal morphology of Paikwaophis kruki suggests that it is fossorial or semi-fossorial, which could help to explain its apparent rarity. This description brings the number of Pantepui endemic reptile genera to six. Paikwaophis is the only known endemic snake genus in the Pantepui biogeographical region.
Citation
Kok, Philippe JR, and D. Bruce Means. Hiding in the mists: molecular phylogenetic position and description of a new genus and species of snake (Dipsadidae: Xenodontinae) from the remote cloud forest of the Lost World. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2023): zlad082.
