Unwrapping broken tails: Biological and environmental correlates of predation pressure in limbless reptiles.

Studying species interactions in nature often requires elaborated logistics and intense fieldwork. The difficulties in such task might hinder our ability to answer questions on how biotic interactions change with the environment. Fortunately, a workaround to this problem lies within scientific collections.

Chance, luck and a fortunate finding: a new species of watersnake of the genus Helicops Wagler, 1828 (Serpentes: Xenodontinae), from the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands.

We describe a new watersnake of the genus Helicops based on a single specimen found in the northern limit of the Brazilian Pantanal. Immediately after collection, the unique features of color pattern and head proportions prevented us to attribute this specimen to any other congener. Further comparisons revealed that the combination of entire nasal scales, a distinctively acuminate snout, high dorsal and supralabial counts, as well as a dorsal pattern with chain-like spot rows and a venter with vivid and peculiar orange markings confirmed that the specimen represented a new species.

The taxonomic status of the "forgotten" Bolivian snakes, Atractus balzani Boulenger 1898 and Atractus maculatus (sensu Boulenger 1896) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae).

The genus Atractus Wagler 1828 comprises almost 150 currently recognized species of cryptozoic snakes widespread in the Neotropics, occurring from Panama to northeastern Argentina (Passos et al. 2016a). Despite the publication of the descriptions of several new species within the last decade, the taxonomy of the genus is unclear in some instances.