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Hydrodynastes gigas (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

IUCN Red List - Hydrodynastes gigas - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: False Water Cobra
G: Brasilianische Glattnatter
Portuguese: Boipevaçu, Cobra-D'água, Jararacuçu-Piau, Pepeva, Sucuri, Sucurirana, Surucucu-do-Brejo, Surucucu-do-Pantanal, Surucucurana, Surucutinga-do-Pantanal 
SynonymXenodon gigas DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 761
Lejosophis gigas – JAN 1863
Cyclagras gigas — COPE 1885: 185
Hydrodynastes gigas — HOGE 1966
Cyclagras gigas — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 78
Cyclagras gigas — HOOGMOED 1982: 240
Cyclagras gigas — MEHRTENS 1987: 217
Hydrodynastes gigas — CEI 1993
Cyclagigas gigas — FRANK & RAMUS 1995: 215 (in error)
Hydrodynastes gigas — LEYNAUD & BUCHER 1999: 18
Hydrodynastes gigas — BRANDÃO & PERES 2001
Hydrodynastes gigas — PUORTO & BARBARINI 2004
Hydrodynastes melanogigas FRANCO, FERNANDES & BENTIM 2007
Hydrodynastes gigas — MELANI 2007
Hydrodynastes gigas — WALLACH et al. 2014: 339
Hydrodynastes melanogigas — WALLACH et al. 2014: 339
Hydrodynastes melanogigas — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019
Hydrodynastes gigas — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionFrench Guiana (along the coast), Suriname, S Brazil (Amazonas, Para, Amapa, Marajo Island, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraná [HR 27: 216], Rondonia [HR 30: 54], Goias, Distrito Federal, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraíba [HR 37: 497], Piauí, São Paulo, Tocantins, Minas Gerais),
E Bolivia (Beni), Paraguay, N Argentina (Misiones, Corrientes, Entre Rios, Santa Fe, Chaco, Formosa), S Venezuela (VertNET TCWC 83027),
Guyana (VertNET RBINS 528471), Peru ?

Type locality: Corrientes, Argentina

melanogigas: Brazil (Tocantins); Type locality: Municipality of Palmas (10° 12’ 46’’S, 48° 21’37’’ W, 230 m elevation), State of Tocantins, Brazil.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntype: MNHN-RA 3623, largest specimen 2270 mm (A. d'Orbigny)
Holotype: IBSP 65796 adult male, collected between 21–30 January 2002 by Marisa M.T. da Rocha, Myriam E.V. Calleffo, and Silvia R. Travaglia-Cardoso [melanogigas] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (melanogigas): the new species is distinguished from H. gigas and the two subspecies of H. bicinctus by having a general melanistic color pattern, with head and dorsum of the body mostly dark-brown to black; absence of postocular stripe; venter grayish-brown, with dark rounded blotches outlining two lateral stripes which become gradually paler towards the posterior region of the belly, disappearing after midbody. It is further distinguished from the two subspecies of H. bicinctus by having two apical pits, and 16–17 prediastemal teeth. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: partly fide Dunn 1944, Hoge 1958. Carvalho et al. 2020 synonymized H. melanogigas with H. gigas.

Distribution: not known from Ecuador (iNaturalist 2601314 was incorrectly ID'd) nor from Uruguay (Carreira et al. 2012). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Not in Colombia fide Bernal (2025) although there is a specimen from there (UF Herp 20576 fide VertNET). 
EtymologyNamed after the giant “Gigas” in Greek mythology, the child of Uranus and Gaea. The name is applied to taxa that are giants of their kind. 
References
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