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Chironius scurrula (WAGLER, 1824)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Wagler's Sipo, harlequin snake
Portuguese: Acutimboia, Cobra-Cipó, Sururucu-de-Fogo 
SynonymNatrix scurrula WAGLER 1824: 24
Coluber scurrula (WAGLER) — WAGLER 1830
Dendrophis viridis DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854
Herpetodryas fuscus (not of LINNAEUS) — GÜNTHER 1859
Herpetodryas carinatus var. scurrula (WAGLER) — JAN 1863
Herpetodryas holochlorus COPE 1876
Chironius cinnamomeus (not of WAGLER) — HOGE 1960
Chironius scurrulus (WAGLER) — HOGE & NINA 1964: 72
Chironius barrioi DONOSO-BARROS 1969
Herpetodryas holochloris (COPE) — MALNATE 1971
Chironius holochlorus — DONOSO-BARROS 1969: 190
Chironius scurrulus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 61
Chironius scurrulus — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980
Chironius scurrulus — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Chironius scurrulus — BOOS 2001
Chironius scurrulus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 162
Chironius scurrulus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019
Chironius scurrula — BERNAL & DUBOIS 2023 
DistributionBrazil (Roraima, Amazonas, Minas Gerais, Rondonia, Para),
SE Colombia, N Bolivia, Ecuador
Venezuela (Bolivar, TF Roraima, Amazonas [HR 32: 58])
E Peru (Moyobamba, Xeberos), Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana

Type locality: “probably Rio Japura, Brazil” (fide KORNACKER 1999).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: ZSM 2628/0, male, designated by Hoogmoed & Gruber 1983 (see comment) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: DIXON et al. 1993: 190.


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CommentType was probably originally deposited in the Zoologische Staatssammlung München, but Dr. Hellmich, Museum of Zoology, München, informed Hoge and Maranhao Nina that this type was either lost or destroyed during World War II. Note that the lectotype is not the specimen depicted in the original description (Hoogmoed & Gruber 1983).

Synonymy: motly after DIXON et al. 1993: 188. Boulenger (1894) placed Natrix scurrula in the synonymy of Chironius fuscus

Distribution: map in DIXON et al. 1993: 193. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Not on Trinidad fide Jadin et al. 2024.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after the Latin noun scurrula, meaning harlequin, a clown, referring to the colours resembling the dressing of a harlequin. Scurrula is masculine, despite its ending in -a, and a noun in apposition, hence the correction to scurrulus is incorrect (Bernal & Dubois 2023) 
References
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