Chance, luck and a fortunate finding: a new species of watersnake of the genus Helicops Wagler, 1828 (Serpentes: Xenodontinae), from the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands Author Moraes-Da-Silva, Antonio Author Amaro, Renata Cecília Author Sales Nunes, Pedro M. Author Strüssmann, Christine Author Junior, Mauro Teixeira Author Jr, Albedi Andrade Author Sudré, Vinícius Author Recoder, Renato Author Rodrigues, Miguel Trefaut Author Curcio, Felipe Franco text Zootaxa 2019 2019-08-06 4651 3 445 470 journal article 26078 10.11646/zootaxa.4651.3.3 7241cccf-a1ad-4a08-acb6-cff27cb2b883 1175-5326 3363353 FA2E3659-C2A3-45E9-BBB0-3798EE05808E

TABLE 4. Comparison among the most informative qualitative characters allowing the distinction of Helicops boitata from other congeners (data associated with Helicops yacu rely strictly on information from the literature).

Species	Nasal scale	Dorsals	Keels	Subcaudal keels	Supralabials	Infralabials	Preoculars
*represents the nasal scales of H. petersi based on Costa et al (2016), as well as on information provided by a collaborator who directly examined the holotype; the original description reports an entire nasal scale (Rossman 1976).
H. angulatus	Semi-divided	19/19/17	Strong	Present	8–9	up to 11	one or two
H. apiaka	Semi-divided	21–23/19–21/19	Strong	Present	8–9	up to 12	one
H. boitata	Entire	25/25/21	Moderate	Absent	10	12/13	two
H. carinicaudus	Semi-divided	19/17–19/17–19	Weak/Moderate	Absent	7–8	(lateral asymmetry) up to 10	one or two
H. danieli	Semi-divided	19/19/19	Moderate	Absent	8	up to 11	one
H. gomesi	Semi-divided	19/19/17–19	Strong	Present	8	up to 11	one
H. hagmanni	Semi-divided	27/23–27/23	Strong	Absent	8	up to 12	one or two
H. infrataeniatus	Semi-divided	17–19/19/17–19	Moderate	Absent	8	up to 11	one
H. leopardinus	Semi-divided	19–20/19/17–19	Moderate	Absent	8	up to 10	one or two
H. modestus	Semi-divided	19/19/17	Weak	Absent	8	up to 11	one
H. nentur	Entire	17/17/15	Weak	Absent	8	up to 10	one
H. pastazae	Semi-divided	23/21–23/19	Strong	Absent	8	up to 10	one
H. petersi	Semi-divided*	21/21–23/16	Strong	Absent	8	up to 12	one
H. polylepis	Semi-divided	23–25/22–25/19–21	Strong	Absent	8	up to 13	one
H. scalaris	Semi-divided	21–25/19–21/16–19	Moderate	Absent	9	up to 14	one
H. tapajonicus	Semi-divided	19/19/17	Weak	Absent	8	up to 10	one
H. trivittatus	Semi-divided	21–25/21–23/21–19	Moderate	Absent	8–9	up to 14	two
H. yacu	Entire	25–29/25–28/18–20	Moderate	Absent	9	up to 12	one