Chironius diamantina FERNANDES & HAMDAN, 2014
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Chironius diamantina?
Chironius diamantina
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Cobra-Cipó |
| Synonym | Chironius diamantina FERNANDES & HAMDAN 2014 Chironius flavolineatus — FREITAS & SILVA 2007: 182 Chironius flavolineatus — HAMDAN & LIRA_DA_SILVA 2012: 43 Chironius diamantina — HAMDAN et al. 2017 Chironius diamantina — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Chironius diamantina — BERNAL & DUBOIS 2023 |
| Distribution | Brazil (C Bahia) Type locality: municipality of Morro do Chapéu (11° 33’ 9’’S, 41° 9’ 27’’W, about 1000 m elevation), oriental zone of Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, Brazil. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: UFBA (also as MZUFBA) 1657, Adult female, collected in November 2005, no collector data. Paratypes. All specimens from the state of Bahia, Brazil. Adult female, MZUFBA 2394, tail damaged, collected on March 13, 2013 by B. Hamdan, in the municipality of Palmeiras, village of Vale do Capão (12o 30’ 50’’S, 41o 34’ 39’’W, 1310 m asl), in an area of Campos Rupestres along the bank of the river of Cachoeira da Fumaça waterfall; adult male, AAGARDA 7191, collected on January 2013 by W. Pessoa, in the municipality of Palmeiras, village of Vale do Capão, in a tropical grassland environment near Cachoeira Águas Claras waterfall; adult male, UEFS 1519, no collector data, from the municipality of Palmeiras (12o 36’ 34’’S, 41o 30’ 24’’W, 1000 m asl); adult male, MZUSP 7804, tail damaged, and adult female, MZUSP 7805, both collected in 1980 by M. T. Rodrigues, in the municipality of Morro do Chapéu. All other specimens collected in the municipality of Rio de Contas (13o 26’ 30’’S, 41o 50’ 28’’W, about 1000 m asl), collection data from A.J.S. Argôlo. Adult male, MZUESC 2633, collected between 22 November 2001 and 26 June 2002, at Bittencourt farm; adult female, MZUESC 2102, tail damaged, collected between 26 May 2001 and 21 November 2001, at Brejo farm; adult male MZUESC 2642, tail damaged, adult female MZUESC 2643, adult female MZUESC 2644, tail damaged, and adult female MZUESC 2645, all four specimens collected between 22 November 2001 and 26 June 2002 at Brejo farm. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Chironius diamantina can be distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of states of characters in preserved specimens: first third of body black or dark gray; vertebral stripe yellowish or creamish white, distinct from dorsals of nape and extending throughout almost the whole body length; head dorsum tan to brown, distinct from background color of first third of body; posterior temporal scales two to four; cloacal shield entire; six to ten rows of keeled dorsal scales at midbody; ventral scales with dark edges forming conspicuous transverse bars virtually throughout whole belly length; ventral surface of tail with conspicuous longitudinal dark stripes (in “zigzag”) in midventral portion of subcaudals; region of medial constriction of hemipenis slightly covered with spinules separating calyces of apex from spines below region of constriction; in lateral view, sulcus spermaticus positioned on convex face of hemipenis. |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in HAMDAN & FERNANDES 2015 (Fig. 6). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Similar species: Chironius flavolineatus, C. brazili Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | The specific name, a noun in apposition, refers to the Chapada Diamantina, central region of the state of Bahia from where the new species was described. |
| References |
|
| External links |