title: A new species of Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 from the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil (Serpentes: Colubridae).
abstract: We describe a new species of Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 from the highlands of Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from all currently recognized congeners by a unique combination of states of characters on coloration, scale counts, scale ornamentation, and hemipenis. The new species closely resembles Chironius flavolineatus (Jan, 1863) in color pattern, but differs from the later taxon by the presence of two to four posterior temporal scales; cloacal shield entire; six to ten rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody; ventral scales with posterior dark edges forming conspicuous transverse bars along almost the entire venter; conspicuous dark longitudinal stripes (in "zigzag") in the midventral portion of subcaudals; region of medial constriction of hemipenis slightly covered with spinules separating calyces of apex from spines below region of constriction; and sulcus spermaticus situated on convex face of hemipenis in lateral view. The new species is apparently restricted to Chapada Diamantina, corroborating the biological importance of this region from a conservational perspective.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Répteis, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Governador, 21941-902 Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil; Email: danferufrj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel Silva
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Répteis, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Ilha do Governador, 21941-902 Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil Coleção Científica Instituto Vital Brazil, Instituto Vital Brazil, Rua Maestro José Botelho, n°64, Vital Brazil, Niterói - RJ, Brazil; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Breno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hamdan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D017812:Colubridae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male