This new Tropidophis species was found while examining a series of snakes from the Andes of Ecuador.  The new species is tentatively placed as a sister-clade to Tropdophis taczanowskyi.  More research is needed as the sequences for the mainland species are  absent in the database.  “Cacuangoae” is Latinized in honor of human rights Ecuadoran activist Dolores Cacuango.
This new Trope brings the number of valid species to 34, with six of those found on the mainland.  On the mainland, the Tropes are evenly divided with three on the Atlantic highland forest range of eastern Brazil and three on the West side of the continent in montane tropical forests of Ecuador and Peru; yet east of the Andes.  It is interesting all are  found at higher and cooler elevations.
This paper highlights the need for more work on the Genus-there is little to no sequencing available for the genus in its entirety.  That work would clarify some species validity issues, allow candidate species to be described, invalidate others and, most likely, raise a whole new littany of questions about the genus .

Read the new paper published in the European Journal of Taxonomy 854: 1-107 (2022) here.

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