Apostolepis ambiniger (PETERS, 1869)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Apostolepis ambiniger?
Apostolepis ambiniger
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Paraguayan Blackhead Portuguese: Falsa-Coral |
| Synonym | Rhynchonyx ambiniger PETERS 1869: 438 Apostolepis ambinigra — BOULENGER 1896: 237 (unjustified emendation) Apostolepis ambiniger — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 22 Apostolepis ambinigra — BAUER et al. 1995: 74 Apostolepis ambiniger — DE LEMA 2002 Apostolepis ambinigra — WALLACH et al. 2014: 50 Apostolepis ambiniger — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Bolivia, Paraguay Type locality: “angeblich aus Paraguay” |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 6450 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A species of Apostolepis with the following characters: (1) 15/15/15 dorsal scales; (2) preocular present, contacting nasal; (3) loreal absent; (4) temporals 1+0 or absent; (5) supralabials six, 2nd–3rd entering orbit; (6) infralabials 6–7, 1st–4th in contact with first pair of chinshields; (7) ventrals 219–244 (219–244 in males, 230–242 in females); (8) subcaudals 21–33 (28–33 in males, 21–26 in females), cloacal plate divided; (9) dorsal ground coloration uniformly red or orange with black markings; (10) ventral pattern uniformly yellow or red; (11) first 3–6 vertebrals black, nuchal collars and dorsal stripes absent; (12) distal black caudal blotch overlapping last 9–15 vertebrals and 7–11 subcaudals; (13) terminal scale white or bicolored black dorsally, white ventrally; (14) supralabial blotch large or small, up to four supralabial scales wide; (15) white blotch on rostral vestigial or absent; (16) SVL 390–600 mm, tail length 33–60 mm, tail is 8–10% of total length and SVL is 90–92% of total length (Entiauspe-Neto et al. 2021). Additional details (4455 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Apostolepis tenuis RUTHVEN 1927 and Rhynchonyx ambiniger vittatus COPE 1887 have been considered as synonyms of ambinigra by PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Distribution: see map in Entiauspe-Neto et al. 2021: 246 (Fig. 12). Not in Brazil (Guedes et al. 2023) |
| Etymology | Named after Latin ambi, around, round about; having two + Latin niger, black, dark. (Peters 1869, Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) |
| References |
|
| External links |