Conophis lineatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)
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Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
Subspecies | Conophis lineatus concolor (COPE 1867) Conophis lineatus lineatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854) |
Common Names | E: Road Guarder G: Streifennatter S: Guarda Caminos Centroamericana |
Synonym | Lygophis lineatus LINNAEUS 1758 Tomodon lineatum DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 936 Conophis pulcher COPE 1869: 308 Conophis lineatus — COPE 1871: 8 Tachymenis lineata — GARMAN 1884: 60 Conophis pulcher var. similis BOCOURT 1886: 647 Liophis decoratus — DITMARS 1934 (fide VILLA et al. 1988) Conophis concolor — SCHMIDT & ANDREWS 1936 (fide VILLA et al. 1988) Lygophis lineatus — DUNN 1940 Conophis pulcher plagosus SMITH 1941: 121 Conophis lineatus similis SMITH 1941: 123 (preoccupied by BOCOURT 1886) Conophis lineatus dunni SMITH 1942: 395 (nom. subst.) Conophis pulcher plagosus — MERTENS 1952: 62 Conophis nevermanni — TAYLOR 1955 (fide VILLA et al. 1988) Conophis lineatus dunni — NEILL & ALLEN 1959: 56 Conophis lineatus — WELLMAN 1963: 262 Conophis lineatus dunni — WELLMAN 1963: 262 Conophis lineatus dunni — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70 Conophis lineatus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 69 Conophis pulcher — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70 Conophis pulcher — VILLA et al. 1988 Conophis lineatus — WILSON & MEYER (fide VILLA et al. 1988) Conophis pulcher — LINER 1994 Conophis lineatus — LINER 1994 Conophis lineatus — SAVAGE 2002 Conophis lineatus — KÖHLER 2008: 212 Conophis lineata — LEMOS-ESPINAL & SMITH 2015 Conophis lineatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 180 Conophis lineatus concolor COPE 1867 Conophis concolor COPE 1867: 318 Conophis lineaticeps COPE 1900: 1094 Conophis lineatus concolor — BARBOUR & COLE 1906: 153 Conophis concolor — SCHMIDT & ANDREWS 1936 Conophis concolor — SMITH 1939 Conophis lineatus concolor — SMITH 1941: 122 Conophis lineatus concolor — WELLMAN 1963: 270 Conophis lineatus concolor — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70 Conophis concolor — PEREZ-HIGAREDA et al. 2002 |
Distribution | Mexico (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, Tabasco [HR 35: 82]), Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica [Villa et al.] El Salvador ?, Colombia [Castro,F. (pers. comm.)], refuted by AUTH et al. 1998, who states that Liophis lineatus has been misidentified as Conophis. Type locality: Mexico. concolor: Mexico; Type locality: Yucatan, Mexico. pulcher: Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, El Salvador |
Reproduction | oviparous |
Types | Holotype: MNHN-RA 3738 Holotype: USNM 12368 [concolor] Syntypes: USNM 6751, 6803 [pulcher] Holotype: USNM 79963 [Conophis lineatus dunni] Holotype: USNM 109707 [Conophis pulcher plagosus] |
Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: This species has six to eleven dark longitudinal stripes usually alternating with six or more white or tan areas (or stripes) and has at most the lower one-third of the supralabials brown. The pattern combined with a dorsal scale row formula of 19-19-17 will distinguish this snake from all others in Costa Rica (Savage 2002: 585). |
Comment | Synonymy partly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Neither Köhler 2008 nor Wallach et al. 2014 recognize C. (l.) concolor and the latter synonymizes C. l. dunni with lineatus. Mildly venomous (J.D. Goodman, pers. comm.) Distribution: Not listed in Liner 2007 for Mexico. Not in Panama fide S. LOTZKAT (pers. comm., 23 Dec 2015). SIMILAR SPECIES: (1) striped Rhadinaea (R. calligaster, R. godmani, and R. serperaster) superficially resemble this form but have the supralabial borders and upper margins marked with dark pigment. (2) Coniophanes bipunctatus has two rows of large conspicuous dark spots on the ventrals. (3) Coniophanes fissidens has two or three dark longitudinal stripes. (4) Juveniles of Crisantophis nevermanni have dark markings on the upper portion of the supralabials (Savage 2002: 585). |
Etymology | Named after Latin “linea”, meaning stripe or line. C. pulcher has been named after Latin “pulcher” = beautiful, handsome, fine, fair. |
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