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Leptodeira rhombifera GÜNTHER, 1872

IUCN Red List - Leptodeira rhombifera - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymLeptodeira rhombifera GÜNTHER 1872: 32
Sibon septentrionale subsp. rubricatum COPE 1893: 347
Leptodeira ocellata GÜNTHER 1895: 172
Leptodeira rhombifera — BEEBE 1946: 32
Leptodeira rhombifera — MERTENS 1952: 67
Leptodeira annulata rhombifera — DUELLMAN 1958: 39
Leptodeira annulata rhombifera — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 153
Leptodeira annulata — SOLORZANO 2004
Leptodeira rhombifera — VINDAS & ABERCA 2014
Leptodeira rhombifera — MCCRANIE 2011
Leptodeira rhombifera — SUNYER 2014
Leptodeira rhombifera — SOLIS et al. 2014
Leptodeira rhombifera — MCCRANIE 2015
Leptodeira rhombifera — BARRIO-AMORÓS 2019
Leptodeira rhombifera — COSTA et al. 2022 
DistributionGuatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.

Type locality: Rio Chisoy, near Cubulco, Guatemala  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.9.92; Osbert Salvin, collector
Holotype: AMNH 17367 [Sibon septentrionale rubricatum] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Leptodeira rhombifera can be distinguished from most other Honduran snakes by having 21-25 rows of smooth dorsal scales at midbody, a divided cloacal scute, and a blotched dorsal pattern. Other Honduran colubrids that can have 21-25 rows of smooth dorsal scales at midbody and a blotched dorsal pattern differ in the following ways. Pseudelaphe flavirufa, Senticolis triaspis, and Trimorphodon quadruplex have more than 230 ventral scales (versus fewer than 190 ventrals in L. rhombifera). Pseustes poecilonotus has the median dorsal scale rows keeled (versus all dorsal scales smooth in L. rhombifera). Honduran specimens of Leptodeira septentrionalis have more than 185 ventral scales (versus fewer than 180 ventrals in Honduran L. rhombifera) (McCranie 2011: 325). 
CommentSynonymy: Listed as synonym of Leptodeira annulata by WALLACH et al. 2014: 368.

Habitat: semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyThe specific name rhombifera is formed from the Greek rhombus (an equi­ lateral parallelogram with unequal pairs) and Latin suffix -fera (to bear), in reference to the "subrhombic" dark brown blotches of the holotype (Gunther, 1872:32) (McCranie 2011: 326). 
References
  • Barrio-Amorós, César L. 2019. On the taxonomy of snakes in the genus Leptodeira, with an emphasis on Costa Rican species. IRCF 26 (1): 1–15 - get paper here
  • Barrio-Amorós, Cesar Luis, Michelle Quiroz, Cristian Porras-Ramírez, Rene Villanueva-Maldonado, Alejandro Estrada-García, Abel Batista 2023. Amphibians and reptiles encountered during an expedition to Panama. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18359 - get paper here
  • Beebe, William 1946. Field notes on the snakes of Kartabo, British Guiana, and Caripito, Venezuela. Zoologica 31: 11-52 - get paper here
  • Busack, S.D. 2018. Herpetoculture Notes: Leptodeira rhombifera (Common Cat-eyed Snake) Longevity and aging in captivity. Herpetological Review 49 (1): 55. - get paper here
  • CARRANZA, ALBERTH ROJAS & NICOLE ANDERSON. 2023. Predation of the Pale Catfish Rhamdia guatemalensis (Siluriformes: Heptapteridae) by the Common Cat-eyed Snake, Leptodeira rhombifera (Squamata: Dipsadinae) in Costa Rica. Herpetology Notes 16: 561–563. - get paper here
  • Céspedes-Vindas, Jeyson Gustavo 2018. Predation of Rhinophrynus dorsalis (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) (Anura: Rhinophrynidae) by Leptodeira rhombifera (Günther, 1872) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae), in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Herpetology Notes 11: 959-960 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1893. Second addition to the knowledge of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 31: 333-347 - get paper here
  • Costa, J. C., Graboski, R., Grazziotin, F. G., Zaher, H., Rodrigues, M. T., & Prudente, A. L. D. C. 2022. Reassessing the systematics of Leptodeira (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) with emphasis in the South American species. Zoologica Scripta 51, 415– 433;Corrigendum: Zoologica Scripta 51: 614-615 - get paper here
  • Duellman, W.E. 1958. A monographic study of the colubrid snake genus Leptodeira. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 114 (1): 1-152 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1872. Seventh account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 9: 13-37 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Hilje B, Chaves G, Klank J, Timmerman F, Feltham J, Gillingwater S, Piraino T, Rojas E 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Tirimbina Biological Reserve: a baseline for conservation, research and environmental education in a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1633-1655 - get paper here
  • Knight, James L. 2016. Leptodeira rhombifera (Common Cat-eyed Snake) Neonate diet / Scavenging. Herpetological Review 47 (2): 313-314 - get paper here
  • KNIGHT, JAMES L. & VIRGINIA R. SHERVETTE. 2022. LEPTODEIRA RHOMBIFERA (Common Cat-eyed Snake; Ojo de Gato). DIET. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 513.
  • Martínez-Fonseca JG, Holmes IA, Sunyer J, Westeen EP, Grundler MR, Cerda PA, Fernández-Mena MA, Loza-Molina JC, Monagan IV Jr., Nondorf D, Pandelis GG, Rabosky ARD 2023. A collection and analysis of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua with new country and departmental records. Check List 20(1): 58-125 - get paper here
  • McCranie J R 2011. The snakes of Honduras. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 725 pp.
  • McCranie, James R. 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with additions, comments on taxonomy, some recent taxonomic decisions, and areas of further studies needed. Zootaxa 3931 (3): 352–386 - get paper here
  • McCranie, James R., and Alexander Gutsche 2016. The herpetofauna of islands in the Golfo de Fonseca and adjacent waters, Honduras. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (4): 842–899 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1952. Die Amphibien und Reptilien von El Salvador. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) (No. 487): 120 pp.
  • Ray, Julie M. and Patty Ruback 2015. Updated checklists of snakes for the provinces of Panamá and Panamá Oeste, Republic of Panama. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (2): 168-188 - get paper here
  • Salazar-Saavedra M, Fuentes RD 2025. First report of kleptoparasitism in Leptodeira rhombifera (Squamata, Dipsadidae) for a yellow toad Incilius luetkenii (Anura, Bufonidae) in Nicaragua. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 68(1): 219-223 - get paper here
  • Sasa, M., Arias, E., & Chaves, G. 2025. Annotated list of amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: The role of the Museum of Zoology in cataloging the country’s herpetological diversity. Revista de Biología Tropical, 73(S2): e64536-e64536 - get paper here
  • Solìs, Josè Mario and Mario Francisco Guerrero. 2016. Leptodeira rhombifera Diet. Herpetological Review 47 (2): 313 - get paper here
  • Solís, J. M., L. D. Wilson, and J. H. Townsend. 2014. An updated list of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with comments on their nomenclature. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 123–144 - get paper here
  • Solorzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica - Snakes of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Costa Rica, 792 pp.
  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier & José́ Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca 2023. An updated country checklist to the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. REVISTA NICARAGÜENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD (100): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Vindas, Jeison Céspedes and Juan G. Abarca. 2014. Leptodeira rhombifera. Diet. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 288 - get paper here
 
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