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Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps (COPE, 1860)

IUCN Red List - Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Vermiculate Graceful Brown Snake 
SynonymTaeniophis vermiculaticeps COPE 1860: 249
Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps — COPE 1863: 101
Enicognathus taeniolatus JAN 1863 (part., see comment)
Enicognathus taeniolatus — JAN 1866
Liophis vermimaculaticeps — AMARAL 1929: 175 (in error)
Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps — TAYLOR 1951: 116
Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 268
Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps — VILLA et al. 1988
Rhadinaea vermiculaticeps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 642 
DistributionWC Panama

Type locality: New Granada (Colombia), Cocuyas de
Veraguas;  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ANSP 3534-35, 3741 (3) 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (12038 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentType species: Taeniophis vermiculaticeps COPE 1860 is the type species of the genus Rhadinaea COPE 1863.

Synonymy that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic names Alexteesus Hoser 2012, Barrygoldsmithus Hoser 2012, Desmondburkeus Hoser 2012, Dudleyserpens Hoser 2012, Jockpaullus Hoser 2012, Robvalenticus Hoser 2012, Wallisserpens Hoser 2012 invalid and rejected their use instead of Rhadinaea.
MYERS (1974: 202) and DI-BERNARDO (1992: 233) synonymized the type of Enicognathus taeniolatus with Rhadinea brevirostris (PETER, 1863), DIXON (1980: 16) took E. taeniolatus JAN in incerta sedis melanostigma WAGLER, 1824. But these authors did not examine the holotype. According to DI-BERNARDO, after he has seen a photo of the type (pers. comm., 1997) the holotype is most similar to Rhadinea vermiculaticeps (COPE, 1860) or R. sargenti DUNN & BAILEY, 1939 from Costa Rica or Panama (from Hallermann 1998). Wallach et al. 2014 list Enicognathus taeniolatus as synonym of Taeniophallus brevirostris.

Phylogenetics: García-Sotlo et al. 2021 published a recent phylogeny of the genus with many newly determined sequences.

Distribution: JAN 1866 also states that Enicognathus taeniolatus is from “Brésil” [= Brazil]. 
EtymologyThe genus name translates as "rhadine," which along with the Latin generic forming suffix -a(ea), means slender or graceful (LEMOS-ESPINAL & DIXON 2013). 
References
  • Amaral,A. do 1930. Estudos sobre ophidios neotropicos XVIII. Lista remissiva dos ophidios da região neotropica. Mem. Inst. Butantan 4: 126-271 [1929] - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1860. Catalogue of the Colubridae in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes and descriptions of new species. Part II. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 241-266 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1863. Descriptions of new American Squamata in the Museum of the Smtihsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 15 [1863]: 100-106 - get paper here
  • Dunn, E.R. 1944. A revision of the Colombian snakes of the genera Leimadophis, Lygophis, Liophis, Rhadinaea, and Pliocercus, with a note on Colombian Coniophanes. Caldasia 2 (10): 479-495 - get paper here
  • García-Sotelo, U. A., García-Vázquez, U. O., & Espinosa, D. 2021. Historical biogeography of the genus Rhadinaea (Squamata: Dipsadinae). Ecology and Evolution, 11: 12413– 12428 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 1998. Annotated catalogue of the type specimens of the herpetological collection in the Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst 95: 197-223.
  • Hoser, R.T. 2012. A division of the Neotropical genus Rhadinaea Cope, 1863 (Serpentes: Colubridae). Australasian J. Herpetol. 13:47–54 - get paper here
  • Jan, G. 1866. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 16. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - get paper here
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • KNIGHT, JAMES L. & JEREMY JACOBS. 2022. RHADINAEA VERMICULATICEPS (Vermiculate Graceful Brown Snake; Hojarasqiera). REPRODUCTION. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 519.
  • Myers, C.W. 1974. The systematics of Rhadinaea (Colubridae), a genus of New World snakes. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 153 (1): 1-262 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Taylor,E.H. 1951. A brief review ot the snakes of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 34 (1): 3-188 - 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.
  • Zipkin, Elise F.; Graziella V. DiRenzo, Julie M. Ray, Sam Rossman, Karen R. Lips 2020. Tropical snake diversity collapses after widespread amphibian loss. Science 367: 814–816 - get paper here
 
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