Xenoxybelis argenteus (DAUDIN, 1803)
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Xenoxybelis argenteus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Striped Sharpnose Snake Portuguese: Bicuda, Cobra-Cipó, Tucanaboia |
| Synonym | Coluber argenteus LINNAEUS 1758 Coluber argenteus DAUDIN 1803: 336 Oxybelis argenteus — DUMÉRIL 1853: 487 Oxybelis argenteus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 815 Oxybelis argenteus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 227 Oxybelis argenteus — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980 Oxybelis argenteus— DO NASCIMENTO et al. 1987 Oxybelis argenteus — HOOGMOED & AVILA-PIRES 1991: 85 Xenoxybelis argenteus — MACHADO 1993 Oxybelis argenteus — STARACE 1998: 293 Oxybelis argenteus — KORNACKER 1999: 118 Xenoxybelis argenteus — VIDAL et al. 2000 Oxybelis argenteus — LEHR 2002: 205 Xenoxybelis argenteus — CLAESSEN 2005 Philodryas argentea — ZAHER et al. 2009 Oxybelis argenteus — WHITHWORTH & BEIRNE 2011 Philodryas argenteus — HAMDAN et al. 2012 Philodryas argentea — GRAZZIOTIN et al. 2012 Philodryas argentea — WALLACH et al. 2014: 549 Philodryas argentea — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 Xenoxybelis argenteus — ARREDONDO et al. 2020 Xenoxybelis argenteus — MELO-SAMPAIO et al. 2020 Philodryas argentea — FRANÇA et al. 2022 Xenoxybelis argentea — CRNOBRNA et al. 2023 |
| Distribution | Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil (Pará), Peru (Tambopata, Madre de Dios: [HR 31: 188]), Guyana, Bolivia, French Guiana, Suriname Type locality: unknown (fide KORNACKER 1999). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Type: BMNH 1946.1.9.86 (and possibly additional specimens). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Xenoxybelis can be diagnosed by a unique combination of the following characters: mid-dorsal scales smooth in 17 rows (with posterior reduction) without apical pits; head presenting snout complex frontally projected and eyes laterally displaced, resulting in complete stereoscopic vision*; body elongation with 189-207 ventrals and 174-209 subcaudals in both sexes; dorsal surface of body with conspicuous dorsolateral stripes originating at the snout, passing by the eye and extending to the tail*; ventral surface of body with midline or paired ventral stripes*; maxillae with 17-21 subequal teeth followed by a diastema with 2-3 enlarged and grooved teeth*; dorsal surface of tongue with conspicuous dorsolateral stripes*; hemipenes bilobed and semicapitated with semicentrifugal orientation of the sulcus spermaticus; hemipenes with large spines on its proximal region and with distal spinulated calyces on the sulcate side of capitulum, while asulcate side is mostly naked with a median papillate crest between two rows of body calyces, and two rows of lateral large spines (Procter 1924; Machado 1993; Prudente et al. 2008, Melo-Sampaio et al. 2020). Diagnosis: Xenoxybelis can be distinguished from the other genera of Philodryadini by the following combination of characters: markedly elongated snout, forming an acuminated and sharp head shape; large number of prediastemal maxillary teeth (16-21), followed by one or two grooved postdiastemal teeth; short heart-shaped hemipenes with a well-defined papillate longitudinal crest, formed by the confluence of the body calyces, that runs medially in the asulcate surface; lateral surfaces of hemipenes covered with two to four rows of well-developed enlarged lateral spines (Fig. 4) (ARREDONDO et al. 2020). |
| Comment | Synonymy: Oxybelis boulengeri PROCTER 1923 has been removed from the synonymy of X. argenteus by KEISER 1989. Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018), but semi-arboreal according to other sources. Distribution: Not in Paraguay (fide Cacciali et al. 2016). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Type species: Coluber argenteus LINNAEUS 1758 is the type species of the genus Xenoxybelis Machado 1993. Note that Arredondo et al. 2020 and Melo-Sampaio et al. 2020 revalidated Xenoxybelis almost at the same time. However, the former was published on 20 Oct 2020 while the latter was published 2 weeks later on 4 Nov 2020. |
| Etymology | The species name, argentum, is the nominative Latin word for silver, referencing the silver coloration of the side of this species. Etymology: The generic name of the South American Vine snake Xenoxybelis is formed by the Greek words Xenos‐ (adjective, ξένος, meaning “different”), ‐oxy‐ (adjective, οξύς, meaning “sharp”), and ‐belos (noun, βέλος, meaning “dart”), in reference to their external similarity with the unrelated Neotropical Vine snake genus Oxybelis Wagler, 1830 (Arredondo et al. 2020). |
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