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Epicrates maurus GRAY, 1849

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Higher TaxaBoidae (Boinae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Brown Rainbow Boa
G: Braune Regenbogenboa
S: Boa tornasol, Boa tornasol mamona, mapaná, morada, pintada
Portuguese: Salamanta 
SynonymEpicrates maurus GRAY 1849: 96
Cliftia fusca GRAY 1849: 99
Epicarsius cupreus FISCHER 1856: 96
Epicrates cupreus — JAN 1864
Epicrates cupreus var. concolor JAN 1863
Epicrates cenchria var. fusca — GRIFFIN 1916:168
Epicrates cenchria maurus — STULL 1935: 238
Epicrates cenchria barbouri STULL 1938: 300
Epicrates cenchria maurus — STULL 1935
Epicrates cenchria maurus — TAYLOR 1951: 30
Epicrates cenchria maurus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970
Epicrates cenchria maurus — FREIBERG 1982
Epicrates maurus — CHIPPAUX 1987: 37
Epicrates maurus — STARACE 1998: 105
Epicrates maurus — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Epicrates cenchria maurus — BOOS 2001: 64
Epicrates cenchria — SOLORZANO 2004
Epicrates maurus colombianus MATZ 2005
Epicrates maurus guyanensis MATZ 2005
Epicrates maurus — MATZ 2005
Epicrates maurus — PASSOS & FERNANDES 2008
Epicrates maurus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 273
Epicrates maurus — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 21
Epicrates maurus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionCosta Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela (Merida, Cojedes), Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, N Brazil (Pará: HR 33: 67), Trinidad, Tobago, Isla Margarita, French Guiana.

Type locality: “Venezuela”

colombianus: Colombia, NW Venezuela, W Panama, Costa Rica. Type locality: Comomia, without exact locality.

guyanensis: French Guiana, Suriname. Type locality: Mana, Guyane francaise.  
Reproductionovovivparous; there is evidence for parthenogenesis in this species (BOOTH et al. 2011). 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.10.40, adult male
Holotype: lost (presumed) [fusca]
Holotype: MCZ 22442 [barbouri]
Holotype: MNHN-RA 2000.4319 [colombianus]
Holotype: MNHN-RA 2000.4291 [guayanensis]
Holotype: ZMH R08256 [Epicarsius cupreus]
Holotype: ZMH R20170 [Epicrates cupreus var. concolor] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Distinguished from all continental species of Epicrates by having: (1) lateral stripe of the body with four scales width, (2) irregular lateral ocelli in juvenile and indistinct in adults specimens, (3) dorsal ground color yellow to light brown in juveniles and uniform brown in adults, with noticeable ontogenetic change of coloration. Additionally, E. maurus differ from E. cenchria, E. assisi, and E. alvarezi by having hemipenis length (in situ). 13 subcaudal scales long; from E. cenchria and E. alvarezi, by having barely conspicuous parietal crest and reduced alary process of vomer; from E. cenchria, by having ventral scales, 245; from E. crassus, by having subcaudal scales generally . 50. Refer to Tables 6–7 for additional diagnostic features of the continental Epicrates. 
CommentSynonymy mostly after PASSOS & FERNANDES 2008.

Habitat: in open areas (savannahs) in Suriname. Semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Distribution: Not in Nicaragua fide Sunyer & Martínez-Fonseca 2023 (checklist Nicaragua). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin maurus, Greek μαυρός, darken, black; also Moor; inhabitant of North Africa; from Mauritania. (GRAY 1849, Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) 
References
  • Auguste, Renoir J. 2019. Herpetofaunal checklist for six pilot protected areas in Trinidad and Tobago. Herpetology Notes 12: 577-585 - get paper here
  • Aya-Cuero, Carlos A.; Carlos H. Cáceres-Martínez, Diego A. Esquivel 2019. First record of predation on greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae), by the Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus (Serpentes: Boidae). Herpetology Notes 12: 815-817 - get paper here
  • Bellosa, H. & Bisplinghof, H. 2012. Regenbogenboas - Das Kompendium. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 224 pp.
  • Blanco-Torres, Argelina; Lina Báez S., Edgar Patiño-Flores, Juan M. Renjifo-R. 2013. Herpetofauna from the middle valley of the Ranchería river, La Guajira, Colombia. Rev. Biodivers. Neotrop. 3 (2): 113-22 - get paper here
  • Boos, H.E.A. 2001. The snakes of Trinidad and Tobago. Texas A&M University Press, 270 pp.
  • Booth, Warren; Gordon W. Schuett 2015. The emerging phylogenetic pattern of parthenogenesis in snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 118 (2): 172–186, DOI: 10.1111/bij.12744
  • Booth,W.,Million,L.,Reynolds,R.G.,Burghardt,G.M., Vargo, E. L., Schal, C. & Schuett, G. W. 2011. Consecutive virgin births in the New World boid snake, the Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus. J. Hered. 102, 759–63. (doi:10.1093/jhered/esr080) - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (4): 317-578; plates: 580-620 - get paper here
  • Esquerré, D & J S Keogh. 2016. Parallel selective pressures drive convergent diversification of phenotypes in pythons and boas. Ecology Letters, 19(7): 800-809 - get paper here
  • Fischer, J.G. 1856. Neue Schlangen des Hamburgischen Naturhistorischen Museums. Abhandl. Nat. Ver. Hamburg 3 (4): 79-116 - get paper here
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  • Fuentes, Rogemif; Aschcroft, Jesse; Erick Barría, Helio Quintero-Arrieta, Alexis Baules, Abel Batista, Eduardo Zambrano, Marcos Ponce 2023. Herpetological diversity in forests of Portobelo National Park, Colón Biological Corridor, Panama. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18434 - get paper here
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  • 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
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  • Matz, G. 2004. Epicrates maurus Gray, 1849. Description des sous-espèces. Situla (10): 2-9
  • Mertens, R. 1972. Herpetofauna tobagana. Stuttgarter Beitr. zur Naturkunde nr. 252 22 pp. - get paper here
  • Muñoz-Saba, Yaneth; Nathaly Calvo-Roa, Paul Andrés Gómez-Sandoval, Diego Casallas-Pabón John Douglas Lynch, Lucas S. Barrientos, Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez. 2019. Guía de campo de los mamíferos, anfibios y reptiles de Santa María (Boyacá, Colombia). Serie Guías de Campo del Instituto de Ciencias Naturales. N° 23. Bogotá D.C. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá. 317 p - get paper here
  • Natera-Mumaw, Marco; Luis Felipe Esqueda-González & Manuel Castelaín-Fernández 2015. Atlas Serpientes de Venezuela. Santiago de Chile, Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., 456 pp. - get paper here
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  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Passos, Paulo and Ronaldo Fernandes 2008. Revision of the Epicrates cenchria Complex (Serpentes: Boidae). Herpetological Monographs 22 (1): 1-30 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Peters, James A.; Donoso-Barros, Roberto & Orejas-Miranda, Braulio 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part I Snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 347 pp. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Reynolds, R. Graham and Robert W. Henderson 2018. Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Sep 2018, Vol. 162, No. 1: 1-58. - get paper here
  • Rivas Fuenmayor, G.; Ugueto, G.; Rivero, R. & Miralles, A. 2005. The Herpetofauna of Isla de Margarita, Venezuela: New Records and Comments. Carib. J. Sci. 41 (2): 346-351
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  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Rivera, P.C., Cola, V.D., Martı ́nez, J.J., Gardenal, C.N. and Chiaraviglio, M. 2011. Species Delimitation in the Continental Forms of the Genus Epicrates (Serpentes, Boidae) Integrating Phylogenetics and Environmental Niche Models. PLoS One 6 (9): e22199. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022199 - get paper here
  • Roze, J. A. 1952. Colección de reptiles del Profesor Scorza, de Venezuela. Acta Biologica Venezuelica 1 (5): 93-114
  • Salcedo-Rivera, Gerson A.; Jessica Vanegas-Arroyo, Cristian J. Castillo, Jorge A. Diaz-Perez, Donicer Montes-Vergara 2021. On the human-snake conflict: Predation attempt of Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus, 1758) by Epicrates maurus Gray, 1849 in a farm in the Caribbean Region of Colombia. Herpetology Notes 14: 941-943 - get paper here
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