Atractus erythromelas BOULENGER, 1903
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Atractus erythromelas
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Red-black Ground Snake |
| Synonym | Atractus erythromelas BOULENGER 1903: 483 Atractus erythromelas — ROZE 1966: 80 Atractus erythromelas — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 29 Atractus erythromelas — KORNACKER 1999: 64 Atractus erythromelas — PASSOS & ARREDONDO 2009 Atractus erythromelas — WALLACH et al. 2014: 72 Atractus erythromelas — PASSOS et al. 2024: 21 Atractus erythromelas — ESQUEDA et al. 2025: 19 |
| Distribution | Venezuela (Merida) Type locality: Mérida, Estado de Mérida, Venezuela. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: BMNH 1946.1.7.6, adult female; Paralectotypes: Adult male (BMNH 1946.1.715) and female (BMNH 1946.1.717; Figures 14C,D and 16) with the same data as the lectotype. Neotype: Adult female, MZUC 47736, fide Esqueda et al. 2025: 19. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Atractus erythromelas can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) dorsal scale rows 15/15/15, 15/16/15, 15/17/15, 15/17/16, 16/17/17, or 17/17/17; (2) postoculars two; (3) loreal moderately long; (4) temporal formula 1 + 2; (5) supralabials seven, 3, and 4 contacting eye; (6) infralabials usually seven, first three contacting chinshields; (7) maxillary teeth 7−12; (8) gular scale rows usually four; (9) preventrals usually four; (10) ventrals 170−180 in females, 158−170 in males; (11) subcaudals 21−29 in females, 28−35 in males; (12) in preservative, dorsum highly variable, from dark morph with black ground color with transversal cream spots or blotches on paravertebral region, to opposite pattern with cream ground color, vertebral black stripe (regular to irregular) and black paravertebral blotches connected (or not) to vertebral line; (13) in preservative, ventral surface of body cream with rectangular black blotches, frequently forming midventral black line or even on margins of ventral scales; (14) body size moderate, females reaching 598 mm, males 366 mm; (15) tail short to moderately long in females (8.2−12.6% SVL) and males (8.3−15.5% SVL); (16) hemipenis moderately bilobed, semicapitate and semicalyculate; (17) laterosphenoid present and poorly developed. (Passos et al. 2024) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 9350 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: not in Colombia fide Bernal (2025). See map in Esqueda et al. 2025: 25 (Fig. 11). |
| Etymology | named after the Greek words “erythros” (= red) and “melas” (= black, dark), referring to its reddish belly with black spots. |
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