Apostolepis dimidiata (Jan, 1862)

Variable Blackhead,

Apostolepis dimidiata (Jan, 1862)

An individual that had been killed and mutilated ( Fig. 12 View Fig ) was photographed by Sergio Sotelo at General Artigas (26°57’06’’S 56°13’46’’W), Itapúa department on 28 November 2022 and is the first record for that department. It   GoogleMaps was identified based on the lack of a vertebral line and collar, and presence of broad black flank bands, in combination with white in the labial area ( Cacciali 2024). Blackish   GoogleMaps lateral spots on the ventral scales indicate that the individual belongs to the typical form, and not the form “ barrioi ” ( Cabral, de Lema, Renner, 2017). The   GoogleMaps species is now known to occur in Amambay, Central   GoogleMaps , Concepción, Guairá, Itapuá and San Pedro departments ( Cabral and Weiler, 2014; Cacciali et al., 2016b; Smith et al., 2016; Cabral et al., 2017). It   GoogleMaps is considered to be “Data Deficient” in Paraguay ( Martínez et al., 2020c), but apparently has a wide distribution in the Oriental region of Paraguay. As members of this genus are known to be difficult to detect, we suspect that the species is easily overlooked rather than rare.