Rhadinaea cuneata MYERS, 1974
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Rhadinaea cuneata
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Veracruz Graceful Brown Snake S: Hojarasquera de Veracruz |
| Synonym | Rhadinaea cuneata MYERS 1974: 65 Rhadinaea cuneata — LINER 1994 Rhadinaea cuneata — LINER 2007 Rhadinaea cuneata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 639 |
| Distribution | Mexico (Oaxaca, Veracruz, SE Puebla) Type locality: Ojo del Agua, Nacimiento del Río Atoyac, about 10 km (air line) NNE of Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico [ca. 19.000327, -96.902563] other localities: ca. 18.395453, -96.872351 (LURÍA-MANZANO et al. 2014), ca. 18.067977, -96.192933 (McCoid and Dixon 1981), ca. 17.84723,-96.03763 (Nigel Voaden, pers. comm., verified by Luis Canseco, 19 Oct 2015). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: UAZ 26580, paratypes: UMMZ |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Rhadinaea cuneata is the only North American species of Rhadinaea that has a pale postocular marking in the shape of a wedge. The point of the wedge is at the upper rear edge of the eye, and the wide posterior part occupies about equal portions of the parietal plate and temporal region. There is a pair of large pale blotches immediately behind the head, forming an incomplete collar that is broken on the dorsal midline. Additional specimens conceivably might show the wedge-marking to be variable in shape, but probably this marking is invariably more than a thin line and probably there is always the pair of large pale blotches behind the head. Sympatric populations of Rhadinaea decorata also are characterized by two conspicuous markings on each side of the head and nape, but in decorata the markings are paler and heavily rimmed in black, and the one behind the eye is unexpanded and nearly confined to the edge of the parietal plate, with little or no overlap onto the temporal scales. Also, there are significant differences in numbers of ventrals (MYERS 1974: 65) Coloration.—The dorsum of the body is medium brown, becoming pale-blackish near the head. There are small blackish spots located at the ends of the vertebral scales. A pale-blackish lateral line originates behind the head and continues along the body to the end of the tail. The sides of the body below this line are light brown (in CHCIB 4284) or medium brown (in EBUAP 2262). There is a cream-white stripe along the body between the dorsal coloration and the blackish lateral line. Dorsally, the head is medium brown with a pair of cream- white parietal dots with blackish edges. The wedge-shaped postocular marking and the large blotch behind the head are cream-white. A thin, pale, blackish line originates on the rostral scale and extends until the last supralabial. The mental scale and most supralabials and infralabials have scattered small blackish spots. The ventral region of the body is whitish and immaculate except for two dark-brown blotches located on each side of the ventral scales (blurred posteriorly). An interrupted dark-brown line runs through the inner margins of the subcaudals in one specimen, but not in the other (Luría-Manzano et al. 2014). |
| Comment | Conservation: this is a very rare species known from only 5 specimens (Luría-Manzano et al. 2014) and possibly some additional specimens reported in iNaturalist. Group: Rhadinaea decorata group |
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