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Drymobius chloroticus (COPE, 1886)

IUCN Red List - Drymobius chloroticus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Green Highland Racer
S: Corredora Verde 
SynonymDendrophidion chloroticum COPE 1886: 278
Drymobius chloroticus — COPE 1887: 69
Drymobius chloroticus — BOULENGER 1894: 16
Drymobius chloroticus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 98
Drymobius chloroticus — VILLA et al. 1988
Drymobius chloroticus — LINER 1994
Drymobius chloroticus — LINER 2007
Drymobius chloroticus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 246
Drymobius chloroticus — SUNYER & MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA 2023 
DistributionSE Mexico (Verarcuz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Veracruz), Belize ?, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua; elevation (Honduras): 780-1900 m

Type locality: Guatemala. Restricted to Cobán, Guatemala.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 6755, a 1048 mm female (H. Hague). 
DiagnosisUnfortunately 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 2907 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentRelative abundance in Honduras: rare

It seems likely that the two nominal taxa, D. chloroticus and D. melanotropis, will ultimately prove to be geographic variants of a single species, although Wilson (1970,1975b) reported virtual sympatry for the two: D. chloroticus at a locality 19 km north of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The presumed differences between chloroticus and melanotropis are trivial (chloroticus: no black keels on the dorsal scales, subcaudals 1.07 to 125; melanotropis: black keels on the three uppermost dorsal scales, subcaudals 91 to 96). The degree to which the keels are darkened in Costa Rican examples is now known to be variable, so this feature does
not reliably separate the nominal species [from SAVAGE 2002].

Distribution: Taylor's records (1951, 1954) for the related species Drymobius chloroticus are based on examples of Dendrophidion paucicarinaturus (Wilson 1970). Not in Costa Rica fide SAVAGE 2002.

Similar species: D. margaritiferus. 
EtymologyThe specific epithet is derived from the Greek word chloros, meaning "green," and the suffix -ticus, meaning "a condition of," in reference to the snake's overall green coloration. 
References
  • Aguilar-López JL, Luría-Manzano R, Pineda E, Canseco-Márquez L 2021. Selva Zoque, Mexico: an important Mesoamerican tropical region for reptile species diversity and conservation. ZooKeys 1054: 127-153 - get paper here
  • Badillo-Saldaña, L.M.; C. Berriozabal-Islas; A. Ramírez-Bautista 2014. New record of the snake Drymobius chloroticus (Cope, 1886) (Squamata: Colubridae) from Hidalgo, Mexico. Check List 10 (1): 199-201 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Carbajal-Márquez, R. A., Sigala-Rodriguez, J. J., Ayala-Rodríguez, J. J., Hidalgo-García, J. A., & Moreno-Avendaño, V. A. 2023. The Green Highland Racer, Drymobius chloroticus (Squamata: Colubridae): a new record for the Central Plateau of Chiapas, México. Herpetology Notes, 16, 565-568 - get paper here
  • Casas-Andreu, G., F.R. Méndez-De la Cruz and X. Aguilar-Miguel. 2004. Anfibios y Reptiles; pp. 375–390, in A.J.M. García-Mendoza, J. Ordoñez and M. Briones-Salas (ed.). Biodiversidad de Oaxaca. Instituto de Biología, UNAM-Fondo Oaxaqueño para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-World Wildlife Fund, México, D. F.
  • Cope, E.D. 1886. Thirteenth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 23: 271-287 [1885] - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1887. Catalogue of batrachians and reptiles of Central America and México. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 32: 7-98 - get paper here
  • Guerra Centeno, Dennis; Héctor Fuentes Rousselin & David Morán Villatoro 2012. Serpientes de Guatemala: Guía para didentificación de especies. Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 186 pp.
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Johnson, Jerry D.; Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García Padilla, and Larry David Wilson 2015. The Herpetofauna of Chiapas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (3): 272–329. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2003. Drymobius chloroticus (COPE). Sauria 25 (3): 2 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Laking AE, Solís JM, Brown T, Maddock ST, Burdekin O, Taylor P, Lonsdale G, Green SEW, Martin TE, Galdamez JR, Kolby JE, Erens J, Jocque M 2024. The amphibians and reptiles of Cusuco National Park, Northwest Honduras: updates from a long-term conservation programme. In: Lipińska M, Lopez-Selva MM, Sierra JM (Eds) Biodiversity research in Central America. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 19(2): 37-62 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Woolrich-Piña GA 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 753: 83-106 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A. and James R. Dixon 2013. Amphibians and Reptiles of San Luis Potosí. Eagle Mountain Publishing, xii + 300 pp. - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A., Geoffrey R. Smith 2015. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Check List 11 (3): 1642 - get paper here
  • León, O. I. M. V., Rivera, L. R. M., & Morales-Mávil, J. E. 2024. New record of the Green Highland Racer, Drymobius chloroticus (Cope, 1886), for the highlands of the north from Chiapas, Mexico. Herpetology Notes, 17, 763-765
  • Liner, Ernest A. 2007. A CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MEXICO. Louisiana State University Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science 80: 1-60 - get paper here
  • Livezey, R. L.;Peckham, R. S. 1953. Some snakes from San Marcos, Guatemala. Herpetologica 8: 175-177 - get paper here
  • Mata-Silva, V., E. García-Padilla, D. L. DeSantis, A. Rocha, L. D. Wilson, P. R. Simón-Salvador, C. Mayoral-Halla, B. F. Montiel-Altamirano, and A. Ramírez-Bautista. 2017. New herpetofaunal distribution records for the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4 (3): 679–683 - get paper here
  • Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here
  • McCranie J R 2011. The snakes of Honduras. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 725 pp.
  • McCranie, J. & Castañeda, F.E. 2005. The herpetofauna of Parque Nacional Pico Bonito, Honduras. Phyllomedusa 4 (1): 3-16 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Santos, C. E. 1986. Zoogeografía de los Ophidia en Colombia. Univ. Complutense, Madrid, 2 vols., 971 pp.
  • Savage, J.M. & Bolaños, F. 2009. A checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: Additions and nomenclatural revisions. Zootaxa 2005: 1–23 - 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
  • 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
  • Taylor, E. H. 1950. Second contribution to the herpetology of San Luis Potosi. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 33 (11): 441-457 - get paper here
  • Torres-Hernández, LA, Ramírez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Hernández-Salinas U, Berriozabal-Islas C, DeSantis DL, Johnson JD, Rocha A, García-Padilla E, Mata-Silva V, Fucsko LA, and Wilson LD. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2) [General Section]: 72–155 - get paper here
  • Townsend, J. H., L. D. Wilson, M. Medina-Flores, E. Aguilar-Urbina, B. K. Atkinson et al. 2012. A premontane hotspot for herpetological endemism on the windward side of Refugio de Vida Silvestre Texíguat, Honduras. Salamandra 48 (2): 92-114 - get paper here
  • Villa, J., Wilson, L.D., Johnson, J.D. 1988. Middle American Herpetology - A Bibliographic Checklist. University of Missouri Press, 132 pp [review in Copeia 1989 (3): 802]
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wilson, L.D. 1970. A review of the chloroticus group of the colubrid snake genus Drymobius, with notes on a twin-striped form of D. chloroticus (Cope) from southern México. Journal of Herpetology 4 (3-4): 155-163. - get paper here
  • Wilson, L.D. & McCranie, J.R. 2003. The herpetofauna of the cloud forests of Honduras. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 3 (1): 34-48 - get paper here
  • Wilson,L.D. 1975. Drymobius chloroticus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 171: 1-2. - get paper here
 
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