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Dipsas variegata (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Variegated Snail-eater
Portuguese: Cobra-Cipó, Come-Lesma, Dorme-Dorme, Dormideira, Dorminhoca, Jararaquinha-Dormideira 
SynonymLeptognathus variegatus DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 477
Leptognathus variegatus — STEJNEGER 1902: 192
Dipsas variegata — GOMES 1918: 525
Amblycephalus aberrans WERNER 1923 (fide GEMEL et al. 2019)
Leptognathus robusta MÜLLER 1924: 155
Dipsas variegata — BEEBE 1946: 25
Dipsas variegata variegata — PETERS 1960: 132
Dipsas variegata — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 90
Dipsas variegata variegata — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 90
Dipsas variegata variegata — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980
Dipsas variegata variegata — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Dipsas variegata — KORNACKER 1999: 80
Dipsas variegata — KORNACKER & NATERA-MUMAW 2008
Dipsas variegata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 235

Dipsas neivai AMARAL 1926: 108
Dipsas neivai — PORTO & FERNANDES 1996
Dipsas neivai — CADLE 2003
Dipsas neivai — BERNILS et al. 2007
Dipsas neivai — GUTSCHE et al. 2007
Dipsas neivai — CICCHI et al. 2007
Dipsas neivai — WALLACH et al. 2014: 233
Dipsas variegata — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionVenezuela (Barinas [HR 34: 388], Aragua, Bolivar, Carabobo, Distrito Federal, Guarico, Miranda, Carabobo, Yaracuy, Lara, Portuguesa, Sucre, Vargas), French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil (Pará, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro), Bolivia (Cochabamba, La Paz), Guyana, Peru, Ecuador

Type locality: Suriname

neivai: Brazil (Minas Gerais, Bahia); Type locality: "Caratinga, Estado de Minas Geraes, Brasil" [= Caratinga, E Minas Gerais, SE Brazil, 19°47'S, 42°08'W, elevation 835 m].  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: MNHN-RA 7299, RMNH 995
Holotype: ZSM632/1920(lost),female,“Ost-Ecuador”, collected by Feyer, 1910. Paratypes: ZSM 633/1920 (lost), 3 specimens, same data as holotype [Leptognathus robusta]
Holotype: IB 307, destroyed by fire in 2010 [neivai] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: The following combination of characters distinguishes Dipsas variegata from all congeners: (1) dorsals 15 without reduction on posterior body; (2) postoculars excluding temporals from orbit; (3) usually two pairs of infralabials in contact behind mental; (4) sublabials usually separating infralabials from second and third pairs of chinshields; (5) loreal square to higher than long; (6) preocular above loreal usually absent; (7) dorsal surface of head light gray to tan with or without irregular charcoal to brown blotches, when present cephalic blotches lacking sharp yellow edges; (8) supralabials mostly immaculate tan or light gray; if present, dark edging reduced; (9) nuchal collar tan or light gray; first blotch not reaching rictus and separated from parietals by 4–10 vertebrals; (10) dorsum tan to gray with brown to charcoal blotches widely edged in black and usually with lightly pigmented centers; light vertebral stripe usually present and noticeably bisecting most dorsal blotches; (11) dorsal blotches including those on neck oval in shape and mostly incomplete dorsally and ventrally; more narrow than tall on posterior three-fourths of body; (12) interspaces streaked in charcoal or brown; large accessory paraventral blotches usually present; (13) venter pale yellow or cream anteriorly with increasing amounts of dark pigment posteriorly; dark ventral pigment not forming ventral pattern of lines; (14) ventrals 176–200 in males, 171–195 in females; (15) subcaudals 78–93 in males, 66–86 in females; (16) maxillary teeth 9–13 (Harvey & Embert 2008: 89).


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CommentSynonymy and subspecies after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Dipsas nicholsi, previously a subspecies or synonym of Dipsas variegata, has been resurrected by CADLE & MYERS (2003). Records from Colombia are unsubstantiated fide CADLE & MYERS (2003). Dipsas neivai has been resurrected from the synonymy of D. variegata by Bernils et al. 2007 and others. However, some authors, e.g. Harvey & Embert 2008, Cristiano Nogueira (pers. comm., May 11, 2015) consider D. neivai as a synonym of D. variegata.

Distribution: Records of Dipsas variegata from western Ecuador and southeastern Peru are based on misidentifications of Dipsas oreas, Sibynomorphus petersi, Dipsas peruana (fide CADLE & MYERS 2003), and possibly others. Reports from Panama are other species (CADLE & MYERS 2003). Distribution not corrected for removal of D. neivai. See map in Nogueira et al. 2019.

NCBI TaxonID: 666079 [neivai]; RDB ID: 13469

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin variegata, to be party-colored or variegated, variegated. (Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) 
References
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