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Oxyrhopus petolarius

Species of snake

Summary

Species of snake

Linnaeus, 1758

  • Lycodon petolarius — Schlegel, 1837
  • Oxyrhopus petolarius — A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854
  • Clelia petola — Stuart, 1937
  • Clelia petolaria — Taylor, 1951
  • Oxyrhopus petola — Gasc & Rodrigues, 1980
  • Oxyrhopus petolarius — Savage, 2011

Oxyrhopus petolarius, commonly known as the forest flame snake, is a species of mildly venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Central and South America. There are three recognized subspecies.

Taxonomy and nomenclature

According to Savage (2011) the correct scientific name should be Oxyrhopus petolarius.

Geographic range

O. petolarius is found in central and northern South America, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of O. petolarius are forest and savanna, at altitudes from sea level to 2,000 m.

Description

Adults of O. petolarius may attain a total length of 91 cm, which includes a tail 22 cm long.

Coloration is variable. It usually consists of some combination of red and black rings or crossbands. In some individuals the light-colored crossbands are white instead of red on the anterior part of the body.

The dorsal scales are smooth, with apical pits, and are arranged in 19 rows at midbody.

Venom

O. petolarius is rear-fanged, and its venom is extremely toxic to anole lizards.

Diet

O. petolarius feeds on lizards, frogs, other amphibians, tadpoles, small rodents, other small mammals, birds and their eggs, and probably other snakes.

Reproduction

O. petolarius is oviparous.

Subspecies

Some authorities recognize three subspecies of O. petolarius, including the nominotypical subspecies.

  • Oxyrhopus petolarius digitalis (Reuss, 1834)
  • Oxyrhopus petolarius petola (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Oxyrhopus petolarius sebae A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Oxyrhopus.

Etymology

The subspecific name, sebae, is in honor of Dutch naturalist Albertus Seba.

References

References

  1. [[Gerardo Chaves. Chaves G]], [[Diego Francisco Cisneros-Heredia. Cisneros-Heredia DF]], [[Luis Alberto Giuseppe Gagliardi Urrutia. Gagliardi G]], [[Lucindo Gonzáles Álvarez. Gonzales L]], [[Paul David Alfonso Gutiérrez-Cárdenas. Gutiérrez-Cárdenas P]], [[Gunther Köhler. Köhler G]], [[William Wylly Lamar. Lamar W]], [[Cristiano de Campos Nogueira. Nogueira C]], [[Louis W. Porras. Porras LW]], [[Gilson Rivas Fuenmayor. Rivas G]], [[Alejandro Solórzano. Solórzano A]], [[John C. Murphy. Murphy J]] (2019). "''Oxyrhopus petolarius'' ". The [[IUCN]] Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T198391A2524138. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T198391A2524138.en. Downloaded on 22 March 2020.
  2. "''Oxyrhopus petola'' ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). Itis.gov
  3. [[George Albert Boulenger. Boulenger GA]] (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ),...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (''Oxyrhopus petolarius'', pp. 101-103).
  4. "''Oxyrhopus petolarius'' ". The Reptile Database
  5. (2011). "The correct species-group name for an ''Oxyrhopus'' (Squamata: Dipsadidae) variously called ''Coluber petalarius, C. pethola, C. petola,'' or ''C. petolarius'' by early authors". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.
  6. Boos, Hans E.A.. (2001). "The Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago". College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. xvi + 328 pp..
  7. "Oxyrhopus petolarius (False Coral Snake)".
  8. "Forest Flame-Snake (Oxyrhopus petolarius)".
  9. [[:es:Marcos Abraham Freiberg. Freiberg M]] (1982). ''Snakes of South America''. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. {{ISBN. 0-87666-912-7. (''Oxyrhopus petola'', p. 105).
  10. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN. 978-1-4214-0135-5. (''Oxyrhopus petola sebae'', p. 240).
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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