You are here » home › search results › Dipsas variegata

Dipsas variegata (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Dipsas variegata?

Add your own observation of
Dipsas variegata »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

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).


Additional details (55 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
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
  • Almendariz, A. 1991. Anfibios y Reptiles [del Ecuador]. Rev. Politecnica. XVI (3): 89-162.
  • Amaral, A. do 1926. Novos gêneros e expécies de ophidios brasileiros. Arch. Mus. Nac. Brazil, Rio de Janeiro 26: 1-27
  • ANDRADE LIMA, J.H., DIAS, E.G., COSTA, R.D.L., SILVA, F.J., LIMA, E.S.M., SANTOS, E.M., KOKUBUM, M.N.C. 2021. Lizards and snakes of Refúgio de Vida Silvestre Matas do Siriji, an Atlantic Forest hotspot of the Pernambuco Endemism Center, Northeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica 21 (2): e20201106 - get paper here
  • Beebe, William 1946. Field notes on the snakes of Kartabo, British Guiana, and Caripito, Venezuela. Zoologica 31: 11-52 - get paper here
  • BERNARDE, P.S., ALBUQUERQUE, S., BARROS, T.O. & TURCI, L.C.B. 2012. Serpentes do Estado de Rondônia, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 12 (3): 1-29 - get paper here
  • Bérnils, R. S., A. R. Giraudo, S. Carreira & S. Z. Cechin. 2007. Répteis das porções subtropical e temperada da Região Neotropical. Ciência & Ambiente 35: 101-136
  • Boos, H.E.A. 2001. The snakes of Trinidad and Tobago. Texas A&M University Press, 270 pp.
  • Cadle, J.E. & Myers, C.W. 2003. Systematics of Snakes Referred to Dipsas variegata in Panama and Western South America, with Revalidation of Two Species and Notes on Defensive Behaviors in the Dipsadini (Colubridae). American Museum Novitates 3409: 1-47 - get paper here
  • CALCAÑO, D. & C. L. BARRIO AMORÓS. 2003. Geographic Distribution. Serpentes: Dipsas variegata. Herpetological Review 34(4): 388 - get paper here
  • CATENAZZI, A., LEHR, E. & VON MAY, R. 2013. The amphibians and reptiles of Manu National Park and its buffer zone, Amazon basin and eastern slopes of the Andes, Peru. Biota Neotropica 13 (4): 269-283
  • Cicchi, P.J.P., M.A. Sena, D.M. Peccinini-Seale, and M.R. Duarte. 2007. Snakes from coastal islands of State of São Paulo,Southeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica 17: 227–240 - get paper here
  • Claessen, H. 2003. Slangen van de Guyana’s. Deel V. Lacerta 61 (4): 123-133 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (4): 317-578; plates: 580-620 - get paper here
  • Dias, E G; Dos Santos, I Y G S; Silva, F J; Lima, E S M; Rocha, E B G; Dos Santos, R L & Dos Santos, E M; 2019. Geographic Distribution: Dipsas variegata variegata. Brazil: Pernambuco: São Vicente Férrer. Herpetological Review 50 (1): 105 - get paper here
  • Dubeux, M. J. M., Araújo Neto, J. V. D., Triburcio, I. C. S., Lisboa, B. S., Torquato, S., Freitas, M. A. D., ... & Mott, T. 2022. A “hotspot” within a hotspot: the reptiles of the Estação Ecológica and Área de Proteção Ambiental de Murici, Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 22: 1-14 - get paper here
  • Duellman, W.E., & Salas, A.W. 1991. Annotated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Cuzco Amazonico, Peru. Occas. Papers Mus. of Natur. Hist., Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence (143): 13 pp. - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., G. BIBRON & A.H.A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 7 (partie 1). Paris, xvi + 780 S. - get paper here
  • Dunn, E.R. 1933. A new snake from Panama. Copeia 1933 (4): 193-194 - get paper here
  • Ferrão, M., Soares-Filho, J.A.R. & Oliveira, M. 2012. Checklist of reptiles (Testudines, Squamata) from Alto Alegre dos Parecis, southwestern Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetology Notes, 5: 473-480 - get paper here
  • Freitas, Marco Antonio de 2014. Squamate reptiles of the Atlantic Forest of northern Bahia, Brazil. Check List 10 (5): 1020-1030 - get paper here
  • Freitas, Marco Antonio de; Arthur Diesel Abegg, Iuri Ribeiro Dias, Elbano Paschoal de Figueiredo Moraes 2018. Herpetofauna from Serra da Jibóia, an Atlantic Rainforest remnant in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. Herpetology Notes 11: 59-72 - get paper here
  • Freitas, Marco Antonio de; Arthur Diesel Abegg, Thais Figueiredo Santos Silva, Patrícia Mendes Fonseca, Breno Hamdan, Thiago Filadelfo 2019. Herpetofauna of Serra do Timbó, an Atlantic Forest remnant in the State of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. Herpetology Notes 12: 245-260 - get paper here
  • Gasc & Rodrigues 1980. Liste preliminaire des Serpents de la Guyane francaise. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris 2 (4): 559-598
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Gomes, J.F., 1918. cearaContribuição para o conhecimento dos ophidios do Brazil. II. Ophidios do Museu Rocha (Ceará). Rev. Mus. Paulista 10: 505-527 - get paper here
  • Gonzalez R. C. et al. 2020. Lista dos Nomes Populares dos Répteis no Brasil – Primeira Versão. Herpetologia Brasileira 9 (2): 121 – 214 - get paper here
  • Gorzula, Stefan & Senaris, J. Celsa 1999. In: Contribution to the herpetofauna of the Venezuelan Guayana. I: a data base. Scientia Guaianae, Caracas, No. 8 [1998], 269+ pp.; ISBN 980-6020-48-0
  • Gutsche, A. ; Kwet, A.; Kucharzewski, C.; Lingnau, R. & Günther, R. 2007. Wilhelm Ehrhardt and an evaluation of his amphibians and reptiles held in the Herpetological Collection of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin - Zoologische Reihe 83 (1): 80-93 - get paper here
  • Hamdan, B. & R. M. Lira-da-Silva 2012. The snakes of Bahia State, northeastern Brazil: species richness, composition and biogeographical notes. Salamandra 48 (1): 31-50 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Harvey, Michael B. 2008. New and Poorly Known Dipsas (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Northern South America. Herpetologica 64 (4): 422-451 - get paper here
  • Harvey, Michael B. and Dirk Embert 2008. Review of Bolivian Dipsas (Serpentes: Colubridae), with Comments on Other South American Species. Herpetological Monographs 22 (1): 54-105 - get paper here
  • Harvey, Michael B.; Gilson Rivas Fuenmayor, José Rances Caicedo-Portilla, and José Vicente Rueda-Almonacid 2009. Systematics of the Enigmatic Dipsadine Snake Tropidodipsas perijanensis Alemán (Serpentes: Colubridae) and Review of Morphological Characters of Dipsadini. Herpetological Monographs 22 (1): 106-132 - get paper here
  • Hedges SB, Powell R, Henderson RW, Hanson S, and Murphy JC 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology 67: 1–53
  • Kornacker, P. & Natera-Mumaw, M. 2008. Feldherpetologische Daten zu einigen Amphibien- und Reptilienarten im Wolkenwald des “Parque Nacional Henri Pittier”, Rancho Grande, Venezuela. Sauria 30 (3): 21-37 - get paper here
  • Kornacker,P.M. 1999. Checklist and key to the snakes of Venezuela. PaKo-Verlag, Rheinbach, Germany, 270 pp.
  • Lancini,A.R. & Kornacker,P.M. 1989. Die Schlangen von Venezuela. Armitano Editores C.A., Caracas, 1-381
  • Lehr, E. 2002. Amphibien und Reptilien in Peru. Natur und Tier-Verlag (Münster), 208 pp. - get paper here
  • LOTZKAT S., NATERA-MUMAW M., A. HERTZ , J. SUNYER & D. MORA 2008. New state records of Dipsas variegata (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril 1854) (Serpentes: Colubridae) from northern Venezuela, with comments on natural history. Herpetotropicos 4 (1): 25-29 - get paper here
  • MacCulloch, R. D. & A. Lathrop 2004. A new species of Dipsas (Squamata: Colubridae) from Guyana. Revista de Biologia Tropical 52(1): 239-247 - get paper here
  • Markezich, A.L. 2002. New distribution records of reptiles from Western Venezuela. Herpetological Review 33 (1): 69-74 - get paper here
  • Mattison, Chris 2007. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press
  • Mebert K., Passos P., Fernandes D.S., Entiauspe-Neto O.M., Alvez F.Q., Machado A.S., Lopes R.T. 2020. A new species of snail-eating snake, Dipsas Cope, 1860 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Dipsadinae), from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. South American Journal of Herpetology 17 (1): 43–62 - get paper here
  • Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Living snakes of the world in color. Sterling Publ. Co., hic., New York, NY: 480 pp.
  • MENDES-PINTO, TELÊMACO JASON; Mestrando, BERNHARD, RAFAEL, VOGT, RICHARD; PEDRETT, RONNEZZA CÉLLIA LOBATO CAMPOS;GARCIA, RAUBER SANTOS 2011. A COLLECTION OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH OF THE AMAZON. Rev. Colombiana cienc. Anim. 3(2): 238 - get paper here
  • Müller, L. 1923. Neue oder seltene Reptilien und Batrachier der Zoologischen Sammlung des bayrischen Staates. Zool. Anz. 57 (7/8): 145-156 - get paper here
  • Murphy, John C.; John C. Weber, Michael J. Jowers, and Robert C. Jadin 2023. Two Islands, Two Origins: The Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago. In: Lillywhite & Martins, eds., Islands and snakes, vol. II. Oxford University Press, p. 81 ff - get paper here
  • Natera-Mumaw, Marco; Luis Felipe Esqueda-González & Manuel Castelaín-Fernández 2015. Atlas Serpientes de Venezuela. Santiago de Chile, Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., 456 pp. - get paper here
  • Nogueira, Cristiano C.; Antonio J.S. Argôlo, Vanesa Arzamendia, Josué A. Azevedo, Fausto E. Barbo, Renato S. Bérnils, Bruna E. Bolochio, Marcio Borges-Martins, Marcela Brasil-Godinho, Henrique Braz, Marcus A. Buononato, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, 2019. Atlas of Brazilian snakes: verified point-locality maps to mitigate the Wallacean shortfall in a megadiverse snake fauna. South American J. Herp. 14 (Special Issue 1):1-274 - get paper here
  • OLIVEIRA, J.C.F., SANTOS, R, LOPES-SILVA, M.L., BARROS, L.P.V., RISSE-QUAIOTO, B, MILITÃO C.M., FATORELLI, P., BELMOCH, F.A.L., CASTRO, T. M., ROCHA, C.F.D. 2020. Reptiles of the Serra das Torres Natural Monument: using the Rapid Assessment method to fill a knowledge gap in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica 20 (2): e20190726 - get paper here
  • Oliveira, Jane C.F.; Rodrigo Castellari Gonzalez; Paulo Passos; Davor Vrcibradic & Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha 2020. Non-Avian Reptiles of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: status of knowledge and commented list. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 60: e20206024 - get paper here
  • Parker, H. W. 1926. A new snake from Trinidad. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) 18: 205-207 - get paper here
  • Peters , J. A. 1960. The snakes of the subfamily Dipsadinae. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan (114): 224 pp. - get paper here
  • Peters, James A.; Donoso-Barros, Roberto & Orejas-Miranda, Braulio 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part I Snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 347 pp. - get paper here
  • Pizzatto, Lígia; Maurício Cantor, Juliana Lima de Oliveira, Otavio A.V. Marques, Vinicius Capovilla, and Marcio Martins 2008. Reproductive Ecology of Dipsadine Snakes, With Emphasis on South American Species. Herpetologica 64 (2): 168-179 - get paper here
  • Porto,M. & Fernandes,R. 1996. Variation and natural history of the snail-eating snake Dipsas neivai (Colubridae: Xenodontinae). Journal of Herpetology 30 (2): 269-271 - get paper here
  • Regio LEM, Pontes JAL 2020. First record of Dipsas variegata (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) from the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Check List 16 (6): 1531-1535 - get paper here
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Rojas-Padilla O, Menezes VQ, Dias IR, Argôlo AJS, Solé M, Orrico VGD 2020. Amphibians and reptiles of Parque Nacional da Serra das Lontras: an important center of endemism within the Atlantic Forest in southern Bahia, Brazil. ZooKeys 1002: 159-185 - get paper here
  • Señaris, J. Celsa; María Matilde Aristeguieta Padrón, Haidy Rojas Gil y Fernando J. M. Rojas-Runjaic 2018. Guía ilustrada de los anfibios y reptiles del valle de Caracas, Venezuela. Ediciones IVIC, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC). Caracas, Venezuela. 348 pp.
  • Starace, Fausto 1998. Guide des Serpents et Amphisbènes de Guyane. IBIS Rouge Editions, Guadeloupe, Guyane, 450 pp.
  • Starace, Fausto 2013. Guide des Serpents et Amphisbènes de Guyane. Ibis Rouge Editions, Matoury, Guyane, ISBN 978-2-84450-407-4 - get paper here
  • Stejneger, L. 1902. An annotated list of batrachians and reptiles collected in the vicinity of La Guaira, Venezuela, with descriptions of two new species of snakes. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 24 [1901]: 179-192. - get paper here
  • Test, Frederic H.;Sexton, Owen J.;Heatwole, Harold 1966. Reptiles of Rancho Grande and vicinity, Estado Aragua, Venezuela. Miscellaneous publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (128): 1-63 - 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
  • Vaz-Silva, W.; RM Oliveira, AFN Gonzaga, KC Pinto, FC Poli, TM Bilce, M Penhacek, L Wronski, JX Martins, TG Junqueira, LCC, Cesca VY, Guimarães RD. Pinheiro 2015. Contributions to the knowledge of amphibians and reptiles from Volta Grande do Xingu, northern Brazil Braz. J. Biol., 75 (3) (suppl.): S205-S218 - 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.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Dipsas&species=variegata

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator