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Tropidophis celiae HEDGES, ESTRADA & DÍAZ, 1999

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Higher TaxaTropidophiidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Canasi Trope 
SynonymTropidophis celiae HEDGES, ESTRADA & DÍAZ 1999: 376
Tropidophis celiae — RODRIGUEZ-SCHETTINO et al. 2013
Tropidophis celiae — WALLACH et al. 2014: 752 
DistributionW Cuba

Type locality: northern (coastal) side of Loma Canasi, at the mouthof Rio Canasi, Santa Cruz del norte Municipality, La Habana Province, Cuba, 3 m elevation, 23° 08' 37" N, 81° 46' 40" W.  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHNCU 4474 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A species of Tropidophis distinguished from all others by a combination of scalation and color pattern (Table 1). It has a high number (203) of ventrals, a high number of midbody scale rows (27), two rows of prominent dark brown spots on a pale tan ground color, a pale neck band, and an unpatterned venter. The high ventral count distinguishes it from all species in the genus except T. maculatus, T. caymanensis, T. melanurus, and the semicinctus group (T. feicki, T. semicinctus, and T. wrighti). The combination of high ventral count and midbody scale row count in T. celiae further distinguishes it from all species in the genus except T. melanurus (Cuba) and T. caymanensis (Cayman Is lands). However, T. melanurus (Fig. 3), which is sympatric with T. celiae, is a much larger species (the gravid female T. celiae is smaller than the smallest gravid female T. melanurus) with a laterally compressed body (body not laterally compressed in T. celiae). Tropidophis melanurus also has four dorsolateral stripes (absent in T. celiae), no occipital spots or band (present in T. celiae), and a pigmented (stippled) rather than unpatterned venter (Table 1). Tropidophis caymanensis, once considered to be a subspecies of T. melanurus, differs from T. celiae in most of those same characters (Table 1). (Hedges et al. 1999) 
CommentConservation: Endangered, possibly Critically Endangered; this species is only known from about 6 specimens (Rodríguez-Cabrera & Teruel 2022).

Sympatry: Tropidophis melanurus, T. semicinctus, Arrhyton taeniatum, Epicrates angulifer, Antillophis andreai, and Alsophis cantherigerus. 
EtymologyNamed after Señora Celia Puerta de Estrada, wife of Alberto R. Estrada. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • CABRERA, TOMÁS MICHEL RODRÍGUEZ & ROLANDO TERUEL. 2022. Third locality record of the rare Canasi Trope, Tropidophis celiae (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on its conservation status. Reptiles & Amphibians 29(1): 337–339. - get paper here
  • Díaz, L. M. y Cádiz, A. 2020. A new species of Tropidophis (Squamata: Tropidophiidae) and molecular phylogeny of the Cuban radiation of the genus. Novitates Caribaea (16): 1-19; doi: 10.33800/nc.vi16.222 - get paper here
  • HEDGES, S. B., O. H. GARRIDO & LUIS M. DÍAZ 2001. A new banded snake of the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae) from north-central Cuba. Journal of Herpetology 35 (4): 615-617 - get paper here
  • Hedges, S. Blair, Alberto R. Estrada and Luis M. Diaz 1999. New snake (Tropidophis) from western Cuba. Copeia 1999 (2): 376-381 - get paper here
  • Hedges, S.B. 2002. Morphological variation and the definition of species in the snake genus Tropidophis (Serpentes, Tropidophiidae). Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. London (Zool.) 68 (2): 83-90 - get paper here
  • López, Javier Torres; Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera, Ruben Marrero Romero, Orlando J. Torres, and Paidel Gutiérrez Macías 2016. Comments on the critically endangered Canasí Trope (Tropidophis celiae, Tropidophiidae): Neonates, ex situ maintenance, and conservation. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 23 (2): 82–87 - get paper here
  • Rodríguez-Cabrera, Tomás M.; and Rolando Teruel 2022. Third Locality Record of the Rare Canasi Trope, Tropidophis celiae (Squamata: Tropidophidae), with Comments on its Conservation Status. REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS 29: 337–339 - get paper here
  • Rodríguez Schettino, Lourdes, Carlos A. Mancina & Vilma Rivalta González 2013. REPTILES OF CUBA: CHECKLIST AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS. Smithsonian Herp. Inf. Serv. (144): 1-96 - get paper here
  • Stull, O.G. 1928. A revision of the genus Tropidophis. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan 195: 1-49. - 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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