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Clelia scytalina (COPE, 1867)

IUCN Red List - Clelia scytalina - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Mexican Snake Eater
S: Culebrera Mexicana 
SynonymScolecophis scytalinus COPE 1867: 320
Oxyrhopus proximus BOCOURT 1897: 856
Clelia clelia immaculata SMITH 1942: 394
Clelia scytalina — STUART 1963: 90
Clelia scytalina — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 64
Clelia scytalina — LINER 1994
Clelia scytalina — ZAHER 1996
Clelia scytalina — SAVAGE 2002
Clelia scytalina — WALLACH et al. 2014: 170
Clelia scytalina — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015 
DistributionMexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Jalisco, Guerrero), Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (Pérez-Santos & Moreno 1988), Ecuador

Type locality: Tabasco, Mexico

immaculata: Mexico (Jalisco); Type locality: “Guadalajara, Jalisco.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 6581
Holotype: USNM 24966 [immaculata] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1152 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentMimicry: Clelia scytalina (juvenile) mimicks Micrurus limbatus and M. diastema (TORRE-LORANCA et al. 2006).

Distribution: Not in Panama fide Köhler (2003); not in Yucatan state (Mexico), fide Gonzalez-Sanchez et al. 2017. Not in Nicaragua fide Javier Sunyer, pers. comm., 20 Feb 2024. 
EtymologyNamed after Greek scytale (σκυτάλη), a staff, cudgel, club + Latin -ina, having the nature or condition of. It's also a diminutive of the Greek word for "viper", scytale, which is a reference to the snake-like appearance of the head of a species of fish, the graveldiver (genus Scytalina). The reference is not clear. The snake head is really not similar to a viper and although the body looks cylindrical (like many other snakes) it does not seem a good distinguishing factor to name the species for. 
References
  • Aguilar-López JL, Luría-Manzano R, Pineda E, Canseco-Márquez L 2021. Selva Zoque, Mexico: an important Mesoamerican tropical region for reptile species diversity and conservation. ZooKeys 1054: 127-153 - get paper here
  • Bocourt, M. E. 1873. In: A. Duméril, M. F. Bocourt, and F. Mocquard, (1870-1909), Etudes sur les reptiles, p. i-xiv; In Recherches Zoologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de Ia Faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Ce Imprimerie Impériale, Paris, Livr. 2-15, pp. 33-860. - get paper here
  • Casas-Andreu, G., F.R. Méndez-De la Cruz and X. Aguilar-Miguel. 2004. Anfibios y Reptiles; pp. 375–390, in A.J.M. García-Mendoza, J. Ordoñez and M. Briones-Salas (ed.). Biodiversidad de Oaxaca. Instituto de Biología, UNAM-Fondo Oaxaqueño para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-World Wildlife Fund, México, D. F.
  • Chacón-Juárez, F & Vásquez-Cruz, V; 2018. Geographic Distribution: Clelia scytalina (Mexican Snake Eater). Herpetological Review 49 (4): 717 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1867. Fifth contribution lo the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 18 [1866]: 317-323 - get paper here
  • García, A. & Ceballos, G. 1994. GUIA DE CAMPO DE LOS REPTILES Y ANFIBIOS DE LA COSTA DE JALISCO, MEXICO. FUNDACION ECOLOGICA DE CUIXMALA, A.C. INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA, UNAM - get paper here
  • Giovanetto, L.A., Sequeira, D., Prosen, E., Mantilla, W., Bolanos, S., Ellis, A. & Samuel, C. 2018. Clelia scytalina (Highland Mussarana, Mexican Snake Eater) Diet. Herpetological Review 49 (1): 125-126. - get paper here
  • Grünwald, Christoph Imre, Nadia Pérez-Rivera, Iván Trinidad Ahumada-Carrillo, Héctor Franz-Chávez and Brandon Thomas La Forest. 2016. New distributional records for the herpetofauna of Mexico. Herpetological Review 47 (1): 85-90 - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Johnson, Jerry D.; Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García Padilla, and Larry David Wilson 2015. The Herpetofauna of Chiapas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (3): 272–329. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2001. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd. 2: Schlangen. Herpeton-Verlag (Offenbach), 174 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2003. Reptiles of Central America. Herpeton Verlag, 367 pp. [review in Copeia 2004: 429] - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Lee, J. C. 2000. A field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the Maya world. Cornell University Press, Ithaca,
  • Lee, J.C. 1996. The amphibians and reptiles of the Yucatán Peninsula. Comstock, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 500 pp.
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Pierce LJS, Painter CW 2020. The amphibians and reptiles of Colima, Mexico, with a summary of their conservation status. ZooKeys 927: 99-125 - get paper here
  • Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here
  • Morato, S.A.A.; Franco, F.L. & Sanches, E.J. 2003. Uma nova espécie de Clelia (Serpentes, Colubridae) do sul do Brasil. Phyllomedusa 2 (2): 93-100 - get paper here
  • Muñoz-Alonso, Luis Antonio; Jorge Nieblas-Camacho,<br>Marina Alba Chau-Cortez, Alondra Berenice González-Navarro, Jaime López-Pérez & Juan Pérez-López 2017. Diversidad de anfibios y reptiles en la Reservade la Biosfera Selva El Ocote: su vulnerabilidad ante la fragmentación y el cambio climático. In: Lorena Ruiz-Montoya et al. (eds), Vulnerabilidad social y biológica ante el cambio climático en la Re El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, pp.395-448 - get paper here
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Hernández, Ricardo Josué, Ernesto Raya-García and Alejandro Chaves. 2015. Geographic Distribution: Clelia scytalina (Mexican snake eater). Herpetological Review 46 (1): 61 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Rodríguez-Canseco, Jesús Mauricio, Krystal Lucía González-Estupiñan, Erika Sugey García-Mata, José Villareal-Méndez and Andrea Bombela Cruz. 2015. Clelia scytalina (Mexican snake-eater) diet. Herpetological Review 46 (4): 638 - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • Smith, Hobart 1942. Mexican herpetological miscellany. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 92 (3153): 349-395 - get paper here
  • Solorzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica - Snakes of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Costa Rica, 792 pp.
  • Stuart, L.C. 1963. A checklist of the herpetofauna of Guatemala. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan (No. 122): 1-150 - get paper here
  • TORRE-LORANCA, M. DE LA; A., R. G. MARTINEZ-FUENTES, L. CANSECO-MARQUEZ, AND U. O. GARCIA-VAZQUEZ 2020. New Records of Amphibians and Reptiles from Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz and Puebla, Mexico. Herpetological Review 51: 550-553.
  • Torre-Loranca, M.A. de la; Aguirre-León, G. & López-Luna, M.A. 2006. Coralillos verdaderos (Serpentes: Elapidae) y Coralillos falsos (Serpentes: Colubridae) de Veracruz, México. Acta Zoologica Mexicana 22 (3): 11-22 - get paper here
  • Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D. 2019. Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich portal, with a dynamic checklist and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1): [General Section]: 209–229 (e178) - get paper here
  • Torres-Hernández, LA, Ramírez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Hernández-Salinas U, Berriozabal-Islas C, DeSantis DL, Johnson JD, Rocha A, García-Padilla E, Mata-Silva V, Fucsko LA, and Wilson LD. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2) [General Section]: 72–155 - 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.
  • Wilson, L. D., & MEYER, J. R. 1985. The Snakes of Honduras. 2d ed. Milwaukee Publ. Mus. Contrib. Biol. & Geol. No. 6, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Zaher, H. 1996. A new genus and species of pseudoboine snake, with a revision of the genus Clelia (Serpentes, Xenodontinae). Boll. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino 14: 289-337. - get paper here
 
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