Corallus batesii (GRAY, 1860)
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Higher Taxa | Boidae (Boinae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | Portuguese: Araboia, Araraboia, Araramboia, Bico-de-Papagaio, Cobra-de-Papagaio, Cobra-Papagaio, Cobra-Verde, Papagaia, Periquitaboia, Periquitamboia |
Synonym | Chrysenis batesii GRAY 1860: 132 Corallus caninus — BOULENGER 1893:102 Boa canina — AMARAL 1925:8 Corallus caninus — PETERS and DONOSO-BARROS 1970:72 Corallus batesii — HENDERSON et al. 2009 Corallus batesii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 182 Corallus batesii — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 16 Corallus batesii — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
Distribution | Brazil (Amazonas, Pará), Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia; elevation 0-1000 m Type locality: "Upper Amazon". |
Reproduction | viviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
Types | Holotype: BMNH 1859.12.28.12, juvenile |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Distinguishable from all other species of Corallus (except C. caninus) based on its green dorsal ground color (rarely black or nearly so) with enamel-white markings on the dorsum (never immaculate green). Juveniles are usuallyred-orange with enamel-white markings (other species of Corallus are various shades of gray, brown, red, and yellow as adults, always with patterns consisting of more than just white markings). Differs from C. caninus by the number of scales across snout at level of suture between the third and fourth supralabials (3–12, mean = 6.9 +/- 1.6 in C. batesii; 2– 6, mean = 3.4 +/- 1.1 in C. caninus), presence or absence of mid-dorsal longitudinal stripe (absent in C. caninus), and lateral blotches rarely absent (0–38, mean = 18.1 +/- 8.2 in C. batesii; 0–11, mean = 1.3 +/- 2.7 in C. caninus). Mitochondrial DNA sequence differences between Amazonia samples (C. batesii) and those from the Guiana Shield (C. caninus) ranged from 3.1–16.2% (Vidal et al., 2005) [from HENDERSON et al. 2009]. |
Comment | This species has been revalidated from the synonymy Corallus caninus by HENDERSON et al. 2009. Corallus batesi and C. caninus can interbreed in captivity and litter are perfectly fertile. Hybrids from batesi x caninus show dorsal pattern of caninus without dark shading inside white marks (often with larger white triangles) and iregoular lateral white marks like batesi, often more and irregular (Angelo Cabodi, peres. comm.) Original description: “Pale brown, with a series of oblong subangular black-edged pale spots on the hinder part of the back, which become broader and more distinct as they approach the end of the tail, and with a series of distant small roundish black-edged spots on the lower part of the middle of the body, the hinder spot largest and nearest to the edge of the ventral shield [from GRAY 1860]. Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
Etymology | The epithet, a Latinized noun, honors Henry Walter Bates (1825–1892), the British naturalist who spent 11 years in Brazilian Amazonia collecting and studying its flora and fauna. |
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