Claudia Koch

Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) - Museum Koenig

We herein describe a new colorful species of Polychrus with a conspicuous sexual dimorphism from the dry forest of the northern portion of Región de La Libertad, Peru. The new species differs from all other Polychrus species, in that this species has very small dorsal scales and thus a higher number of scales around midbody and in the middorsal lin...

We describe two new species of Ameiva Meyer, 1795 from the dry forest of the Northern Peruvian Andes. The new species Ameiva nodam sp. nov. and Ameiva aggerecusans sp. nov. share a divided frontal plate and are differentiated from each other and from their congeners based on genetic (12S and 16S rRNA genes) and morphological characteristics. A. nod...

Herein, we describe two new thread snake species of the genus Epictia from elevations higher than 2000 meters above sea level in the Andes of the Cajamarca Region in Northern Peru. Both species share 10 midtail scale rows, a broad contact between the anterior supralabial and the supraocular scales in most of the specimens, and a yellow spot on the...

A new species of Phyllopezus is described from the dry forest of the upper Marañon basin (Department of Amazonas, Peru), in the northern portion of the Cordillera Central at an elevation of 900-1000 m a.s.l.. The new species differs from all described species by its large size, the absence of enlarged tubercles on head, limbs and tail, and only ind...

Three new blind snake species of the genus Epictia are described based on material collected in the Peruvian Regions Amazonas, Cajamarca and La Libertad. All three species are well differentiated from all congeners based on characteristics of their morphology and coloration. They share 10 scale rows around the middle of the tail and possess two sup...

Crotalines (pitvipers) in the Americas are distributed from southern Canada to southern Argentina, and are represented by 13 genera and 163 species that constitute a monophyletic group. Their phylogenetic relationships have been assessed mostly based on DNA sequences, while morphological data have scarcely been used for phylogenetic inquiry. We pre...

The amerophidian snake radiation is a Late Cretaceous superfamily that encompasses two families: Aniliidae, pipe snakes, and Tropidophiidae, dwarf boas. We describe a new dwarf boa snake species, from the Tropidophiidae family, from the cloud forest in northeastern Ecuador. Tropidophis cacuangoae sp. nov. can be diagnosed from its congeners based o...

The Sahara Desert is the largest ecoregion in Africa, but its biodiversity in general, and reptile biodiversity in particular, are only superficially known and probably grossly underestimated. The dwarf-lizard genus Tropiocolotes is widely distributed in the region. The genus' taxonomy is plagued by serious nomenclatural problems that have led to a...

Lamprophis erlangeri is a lamprophiid snake endemic to moist montane forest remnants and formerly forested areas in the south and south-west of the Ethiopian highlands. Its vernacular name ‘Ethiopian House Snake’ is a result of century-long speculations about the generic placement of this species. New molecular and morphological data brought eviden...

We have discovered a spectacular new species of frog in the genus Hyloscirtus, belonging to the H. larinopygion species group. The adult female is characterized by a mostly black body with large bright red spots on the dorsal and ventral surface, extremities, and toe pads. The adult male is unknown. Small juveniles are characterized by a yellow bod...

Blind snakes represent the most basal group of extant snakes and include fossorial species with unusual skeletal traits. Despite their known phylogenetic position, little is known about their ontogeny and what it might reveal about the origin of their skull anatomy. Here we describe for the first time the ontogenetic transformations of the skull of...

Rhagomys is a genus of South American cricetids composed of three living species. They occur in eastern Andean and lowland tropical forests. Since description of this genus more than a century ago, it was treated as an enigmatic form within Sigmodontinae, varyingly thought to be allied to different suprageneric groups, with several scholars highlig...

The Andean cloud forests of Ecuador are home to several endemic mammals. Members of the Thomasomyini rodents are well represented in the Andes, with Thomasomys being the largest genus (47 species) of the subfamily Sigmodontinae. Within this tribe, however, there are genera that have escaped a taxonomic revision, and Chilomys Thomas, 1897, constitut...

Apostolepis albicollaris and A. cerradoensis are two Elapomorphini snake species, described within a short timespan, from the Cerrado of central Brazil. In their brief descriptions, these two species were diagnosed from congeners largely based on highly variable external morphological characters. Interestingly enough, A. cerradoensishas remained kn...

We examined the taxonomy of the minute desert geckos of the Tropiocolotes nattereri species complex using the largest morphological sampling, and the first molecular assessment of intraspecific diversity within this complex. We examined variation in mitochondrial and nuclear markers (12S, ND2, c-mos and MC1R) of 30 samples and analyzed the external...

The diversity of the oryzomyine rat Mindomys (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae, Oryzomyini), is doubled here with the description of a new species from the remote Cordillera de Kutukú (Ecuador). The novel form can be easily differentiated from Mindomys hammondi-type species of the genus-by a large set of anatomical traits including, among others, larger j...

We describe a new species of terrestrial-breeding frog of the genus Noblella from the northwestern slopes of the Andes of Ecuador, in the province of Pichincha, Ecuador, and report a new locality for the recently described N. worleyae. We include a detailed description of the osteology of both species and discuss their phylogenetic relationships. T...

We describe a new species of Neotropical spiny-lizard of the genus Echinosaura from the Imbabura and Carchi Provinces on the western slopes of the Andes in northwestern Ecuador. The new species mostly resembles E. horrida. However, it can be distinguished from all congeners by having keeled enlarged dorsal scales forming a paired vertebral row, two...

Eduardo Reyes-Grajales schrieb im Mai 2020 an die Mailgruppe der IUCN TFTSG (Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, also die Gruppe der Schildkrö-tenspezialisten in der Weltnaturschutzunion): "Heute hat das Bundesamt für Umweltschutz in Mexiko (PROFEPA) über 15.000 Schild-kröten sichergestellt, die für den Handel mit China vorgesehen ware...

Since very informative genetic markers are being developed for identifying seized animals in FOGS (Forensic Genetics for Species Protection), we decided to set up a project for the development of genetic markers for the most frequently confiscated turtles from Mexico, to help find out the origin of confiscated animals and make better informed decis...

We describe a new species of Microtegu lizard (Selvasaura) from the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in Ecuador. Among other characters, the new species differs from the only other known species of Selvasaura, namely, Selvasaura brava from Peru, in having more femoral pores in males and a unilobed hemipenis. We present the first description of the sku...

The threadsnakes of the family Leptotyphlopidae have been historically neglected in terms of their natural history, ecology, systematics, and morphology. Given the relevance of morphological data for resolving systematic, evolutionary , and functional issues, we aimed to provide a detailed comparative description of osteology and associated cartila...

The genera Mitophis and Tetracheilostoma comprise two extant lineages of small‐sized threadsnakes that exclusively inhabit several islands of the West Indies. Even though leptotyphlopids are known for their extremely reduced size, miniaturization has only been hypothesized to reflect insular dwarfism for the genus Tetracheilostoma. Herein, we aim t...

Describimos una nueva especie de roedor sigmodontino del género Neacomys que habita en la cordillera del Cóndor, sureste de Ecuador. La nueva entidad se distingue fácilmente de sus congéneres por la combinación de los siguientes caracteres: tamaño pequeño (longitud cabeza-cuerpo �69 mm), cola larga (�55.5 % más que la longitud cabeza-cuerpo), vient...

En este preprint, que nos enorgullece presentar a los colegas (para recibir los comentarios, críticas, adiciones, correcciones que deseen hacernos, a fin de enriquecerlo) distinguimos al enigmático género Rhagomys con una nueva tribu, a la par que ponemos en evidencia sus características únicas en el contexto de los Oryzomyalia. Más aún, proponemos...

Since the rearrangement of all leptotyphlopid species previously known as "Leptotyphlops" in Adalsteinsson et al. (2009)'s paper, several taxa have remained untested regarding their generic identity and have been assigned to different gen-era based on phenotypic data or, in some cases, without any clear justification. Most of the difficulties in as...

Erythrolamprus Boie, 1826 is a highly diverse dipsadid snake genus, ranging from Central America south to Argentina and Uruguay. In this work, we reassess the taxonomic status of specimens previously identified as Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus schotti (Schlegel, 1837) from the savannah habitats of Roraima state, northern Brazil, Guyana, and Bolívar s...

A new species of the cricetid rodent genus Thomasomys is described from the montane forests of the Cordilleras del Cóndor and Kutukú, southeastern Ecuador, at elevations between 1,770 and 2,215 m. The species has a large body size (head and body length 137–147 mm) in comparison with other species in the genus, and also is distinguished from its con...

Apostolepis is a diverse genus of dipsadid snakes, currently comprising 34 species occurring in most cis-Andean South America. The taxonomy of the group is highly unstable. Upon discovering its type series, we redescribe the rare species A. ambiniger (Peters, 1869) and provide an account of its geographic distribution and morphological variation in...

Dando continuidad a esta línea que nos hemos planteado de compartir (máxime en estos tiempos tan duros que nos tocan) nuestras investigaciones ni bien son generadas, en forma de pre-print, acá presentamos un estudio donde hemos combinado la descripción de un magnífico nuevo representante de la tribu Oryzomyini de la remota Cordillera de Kutukú, en...

Scolecophidians" are traditionally known for their several skull and lower jaw autapomorphies, being conspicuously different from alethinophidian snakes in terms of skull shape and function. Although typically known for the absence of any kinetic joint in the skull dermatocranium and neurocranium-mostly due to an adaptation to fossorial habit, lite...

Apostolepis is a diverse Dipsadid snake genus, with 35 known species, inhabiting most of South America at east of the Andes. In this study, we redescribe Apostolepis assimilis Reinhardt, 1861, and evaluate the taxonomic status of a controversial taxon, Apostolepis tertulianobeui, described based on a single specimen from an unknown locality of Mina...

Leptodeira is one of the most widespread and taxonomically problematic snake taxa in the Americas. Here we describe a new species of Leptodeira from the Andes of southern Ecuador based on morphological and molecular data. The new species is geographically close and morphologically similar to L. ornata and L. larcorum, from which it can be distingui...

The Andean cloud forests of western Colombia and Ecuador are home to several endemic mammals; members of the Oryzomyini, the largest Sigmodontinae tribe, are extensively represented in the region. However, our knowledge about this diversity is still incomplete, as evidenced by several new taxa that have been described in recent years. Extensive fie...

Apostolepis Cope, 1862 is a highly diversified and speciose Neotropical dipsadid genus, encompassing almost 40 species of fossorial or cryptozoic snakes, widely distributed east of the Andes. In this work, we revisit the taxonomic status of A. sanctaeritae Werner, 1924, a rather controversial taxon described from a single specimen. Apostolepis sanc...

We describe two new species of salamanders of the genus Oedipina, subgenus Oe-dopinola, from two localities on the northwestern foothills of Ecuador, at elevations between 921 and 1,067 m. These are the southernmost members of the genus. We examined different museum collections and we found just three specimens of Oedipina from Ecuador, obtained th...

Chironius bicarinatus is a conspicuous colubrid snake species, widely distributed in northeastern, southeastern, central-western, and southern Brazil, as well as Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. On the basis of new morphological data of individuals from previously unsampled regions and deoxyribonucleic acid sequences, we reviewed the taxonomy of p...

A review of the species of the genus Mylossoma Eigenmann & Kennedy, 1903 found in the Ecuadorian Cis-Andean region was conducted. Two species were recognized: M. albiscopum (Cope, 1872) from the Putumayo, Napo, and Tigre river basins and M. aureum (Agassiz, 1829) from the Napo river basin. A map of geographical distribution and radiographs for both...

Morphology and distribution of the South American snake Chironius leucometapus (Serpentes: Colubridae). Chironius leucometapus was described more than 25 years ago as subspecies of C. fuscus from restricted area in the Department of Junín in central Peru, with no additional specimens reported since. Examination of 17 new specimens reveals that C. l...

The systematics of Leptotyphlopidae is historically controversial mostly due to their conserved external morphology in comparison with other snakes. However, recent studies have stressed that anatomical data might be informative for clarifying the leptotyphlopid taxonomy and evolution. We erect a new genus to accommodate Leptotyphlops collaris base...

We describe a new species of terrestrial frog of the genus Noblella from the eastern versants of the Ecuadorian Andes in the upper Pastaza watershed. Noblella naturetrekii sp. n. differs from its Ecuadorian congeners by the presence of a differentiated tympanic membrane and a weakly defined tympanic annulus, and eyelids with rounded tubercles. In a...

We describe a new species of terrestrial frog of the genus Noblella from the eastern versants of the Ecuadorian Andes in the upper Pastaza watershed. Noblella naturetrekii sp. n. differs from its Ecuadorian congeners by the presence of a differentiated tympanic membrane and a weakly defined tympanic annulus, and eyelids with rounded tubercles. In a...

We describe a new species of Epictia based on eight specimens from Nicaragua collected and housed in the collection of the Natural History Museum Vienna for more than a century. The species differs from the congeners by the combination of external morphological characters: midtail scale rows 10; supralabials two, anterior one large and in broad con...

Analysis of diet composition and morphological characters of the Peruvian lizard Microlophus stolzmanni (Squamata: Tropiduridae). Microlophus stolzmanni is a diurnal lizard that is endemic to the dry forest of northern Peru. Little is known about the ecology of the species and the composition of its diet never has been studied. The stomach contents...

Analyses of diet composition are an important element of studies focusing on biological diversity, ecology, and behavior of animals. Polychrus peruvianus was found to be a quite abundant lizard species in the northern Peruvian dry forest. However, our knowledge of the ecology of this species remains limited. Herein, we analyze the species dietary c...

We describe a new species of pitviper of the genus Bothrops from the Peruvian Pampas del Heath, in the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Pampas del Heath is an area of seasonally flooded savannas and a northwestern extension of the Gran Chaco Boliviano-Paraguayo. The new species is easily distinguished from its congeners by the exclusive combination of...

El grupo "Colostethus" ruthveni es un linaje endémico en la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), un macizo del noroccidente de Colombia. Este grupo incluye a la especie nominal (del sector septentrional y noroccidental de la SNSM) y un morfo indescrito ("Colostethus sp. ruthveni-like", sector suroriental). Aquí, describimos el llamado de anuncio de...

The “Colostethus” ruthveni group represents an endemic dendrobatid lineage in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), an isolated massif in northeastern Colombia. This group has a complex taxonomic history and comprises the nominal species, from the northern and northwestern sector of the SNSM and an undescribed morph provisionally named as “Colos...

A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of 35 localities situated in the northern Peruvian dry forest valley of the Marañón River and its tributaries, containing 14 species of amphibians and 54 species of reptiles, is provided from data collected between July 2005 and April 2014 during several herpetological surveys and from the literature. Deta...

In 1826, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described the Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus [= Crocidura religiosa] from a series of 22 embalmed individuals that comprised a portion of the Italian archeologist Joseph Passalacqua’s collection of Egyptian antiquities from an ancient necropolis near Thebes, central Egypt. Living members of the species were n...

Describimos los llamados de advertencia (LA), cortejo (LC) y algunos aspectos sobre la historia natural de Colosthetus ruthveni, un dendrobátido endémico de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), basado en 89 cantos de 21 machos audibles (MA) procedentes del noroccidente de la SNSM. El LA de C. ruthveni dura en promedio 8,6s y está compuesto por 3...