group species. Below I have a copy of a plate from the excellent paper referenced in the previous post. Unfortunately the plates in this paper do not identify any of the scale locations used to distinguish the different species from each other, and assumes the reader already has that knowledge. I have placed arrows on the plate to show the location of the anterior pair of parietal scales on each species. The left drawing is that of P. breitensteini and the right drawing is that of P. curtus. The configuration and location of the anterior parietal scales on P. brongersmai is very similar to that seen with P. breitensteini and both are characterized by an area of broad contact at the centerline of the head. P. curtus is much different than the other two species in that there is either almost no contact at the centerline, or very minimal contact. This is a very significant morphological distinction within this group and can definitely be used to help differentiate P. curtus from the other two species.



Kelly

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