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Siphlophis cervinus (LAURENTI, 1768)

IUCN Red List - Siphlophis cervinus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Panamanian Spotted Nightsnake, Panama Spotted Night Snake
Portuguese: Cobra-Cipó, Cobra-Coral, Dorme-Dorme, Dormideira, Dorminhoca 
SynonymCoronella cervina LAURENTI 1768: 88
Coluber audax DAUDIN 1803: 345
Coluber (Natrix) Maximiliani MERREM 1820: 105
Lycodon audax — DE FILIPPI 1840: 183
Lycognathus scolopax DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 919 (nom. subst.)
Dipsas (Eudipsas) leucocephala — BOETTGER 1894: 119
Clelia euprepa GRIFFIN 1916: 203
Drepanodon attenuatus BARBOUR & NOBLE 1921: 619
Siphlophis cervinus cervinus — BEEBE 1946: 42
Siphlophis cervinus — HOGE 1964: 43
Siphlophis cervinus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 281
Siphlophis cervinus — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980
Siphlophis cervinus — KORNACKER 1999: 134
Siphlophis cervinus — BOOS 2001
Siphlophis cervinus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionC Bolivia, Brazil (Maranhao, Pará), Peru, Trinidad, French Guiana, Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador [Almendariz 1991], Venezuela (Roraima, Amazonas, Bolivar) [Barrio et al. 1998].

Type locality: “America”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: iconotype, based on specimen described and illustrated by Seba, 1735: 84, pl. 79, fig. 3.
Holotype: USNM 60739 [Drepanodon attenuatus] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 609 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970 and WALLACH (pers. comm.)

Distribution: DE FILIPPI 1840 mentions Lycodon audax from “Paraguay”, probably in error. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Reports from Panama [Villa et al.] appear to be in error or resulted from confusion with other species.

Type species: Coronella cervina LAURENTI 1768: 88 is the type species of the genus Siphlophis FITZINGER 1843.

Key: Sheehy et al. 2014 provide an updated key to the species of Siphlophis.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin cervinus, of or pertaining to a deer [the name refer to Seba II, pl. 79, fig. 3, "...Cervinus anguis adpellatur; quum Cervos amet, iisque gaudeat adesse…"]. (Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024)

The genus was named after Greek siphlos (σιφλός], crippled, maimed + Greek ophis (ὄφις), serpent. 
References
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