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Nothopsis rugosus COPE, 1871

IUCN Red List - Nothopsis rugosus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Nothopsini, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rough Coffee Snake 
SynonymNothopsis rugosus COPE 1871: 201
Nothopsis rugosus — BOULENGER 1893: 176
Nothopsis affinis BOULENGER 1905: 453
Nothopsis torresi TAYLOR 1951: 31
Nothopsis rugosus — DUNN & DOWLING 1957: 255
Nothopsis rugosus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 225
Nothopsis rugosus — KÖHLER et al. 2004
Nothopsis rugosus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 489 
DistributionHonduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama,
W Colombia (incl. Valle del Cauca), W Ecuador (250-900 m elevation)

Type locality: Isthmus of Darien, Panama  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 12427
Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.15.62, “Salidero, NW Ecuador, 350ft” [Nothopsis affinis]
Holotype: KU 28710, “’Morehead’ Finca, 5 miles southwest of Turrialba, Costa Rica” [Nothopsis torresi] 
DiagnosisDescription (genus). A relatively small-sized (<350 mm SVL) dipsadine snake, ranging in Central and South America from Honduras to Colombia and Ecuador, in lowland and middle-elevation rainforests, 250-900 m, distinguishable from nearly all other similar or related snakes in the area by the rugose, granular nature of the dorsal scales, in particular lacking differentiation of the cephalic scales with the exception of well-defined internasals and poorly defined frontal and parietals, which are separated by rows of irregular, undifferentiated scales. Color pattern consists of irregular and poorly defined blotches of blackish or light, dark, and yellowish brown. With respect to the characters described here for diaphorolepidine species, Nothopsis rugosus typically exhibits 19–21 maxillary teeth, 9–13 supralabials, 11–16 infralabials, 149–162 ventrals, 81–112 subcaudals, dorsal scales in (24–30)-(26–30)-(22–26) rows, SVL of 151–320 mm, and tail length of 61–133 mm (Dunn and Dowling 1957) [PYRON et al. 2015: 135]. 
CommentSynonymy that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970, following Dunn & Dowling 1957.

Gender. According to the ICZN, the gender of Nothopsis is feminine. See article 30.1.2. “a genus-group name that is or ends in a Greek word transliterated into Latin without other changes takes the gender given for that word in standard Greek dictionaries; Examples. [...] Names ending in -lepis (lepis), or -opsis (opsis) are feminine.”

Type species: Nothopsis rugosus COPE 1871: 201 is the type species of the genus Nothopsis COPE 1871. 
EtymologyFrom the Greek nothos for “bastard” and opsis for “appearance,” with Cope (1871) apparently referring to putative mimicry of Bothrops atrox. 
References
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1905. Descriptions of new snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7) 15 (89): 453-456 - get paper here
  • Castro-Herrera, F. & Vargas-Salinas, F. 2008. Anfibios y reptiles en el departamento del Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Biota Colombiana 9 (2): 251 - 277 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1871. Ninth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 23: 200-224 - get paper here
  • Dunn, E. R., & DOWLING, H. G. 1957. The neotropical snake genus Nothopsis Cope. Copeia 1957 (4): 255-261. - get paper here
  • Dunn,E.R. 1940. New and noteworthy herpetological material from Panamá. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. 92: 105-122. - get paper here
  • Hilje B, Chaves G, Klank J, Timmerman F, Feltham J, Gillingwater S, Piraino T, Rojas E 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Tirimbina Biological Reserve: a baseline for conservation, research and environmental education in a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1633-1655 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Köhler, G.; Quintana, A.Z.; Buitrago, F. & Diethert H. 2004. New and noteworthy records of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua. Salamandra 40 (1): 15-24 - get paper here
  • Köhler,G. & Schmidt,F. 2001. Zweiter Nachweis von Nothopsis rugosus COPE 1871, aus Nicaragua. Salamandra 37 (1): 61-64 - get paper here
  • Lee, J. L. 2016. Nothopsis rugosus (Rough Coffee Snake) reproduction. Herpetological Review 47(3): 481. - get paper here
  • McCranie J R 2011. The snakes of Honduras. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 725 pp.
  • 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
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Peters , J. A. 1960. The snakes of Ecuador; check list and key. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 122: 489-541 - get paper here
  • Pyron RA, Guayasamin JM, Peñafiel N, Bustamante L, Arteaga A 2015. Systematics of Nothopsini (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), with a new species of Synophis from the Pacific Andean slopes of southwestern Ecuador. ZooKeys 541: 109-147, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.541.6058 - 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
  • Savage, J.M. 1966. The origins and history of the Central American herpetofauna. Copeia 1966 (4): 719-766. - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • 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
  • Solorzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica - Snakes of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Costa Rica, 792 pp.
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  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Taylor,E.H. 1951. A brief review ot the snakes of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 34 (1): 3-188 - get paper here
  • Taylor,E.H. 1954. Further studies on the serpents of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 36: 673-800. - get paper here
  • Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D. 2019. Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich portal, with a dynamic checklist and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1): [General Section]: 209–229 (e178) - get paper here
  • Valencia-Zuleta A, Jaramillo-Martínez AF, Echeverry-Bocanegra A, Viáfara-Vega R, Hernández-Córdoba O, Cardona-Botero VE, Gutiérrez-Zúñiga J, Castro-Herrera F. 2014. Conservation status of the herpetofauna, protected areas, and current problems in Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 8 (2): 1–18 (e87) - get paper here
  • 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.
 
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