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Dipsas bicolor (GÜNTHER, 1895)

IUCN Red List - Dipsas bicolor - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Two-colored Snail-eater 
SynonymNeopareas bicolor GÜNTHER 1895: 178
Dirosema bicolor — BOCOURT 1908
Neopareas tricolor BRATTSTROM & HOWELL 1954: 120
Dipsas bicolor — PETERS 1960: 36
Dipsas bicolor — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 85
Dipsas bicolor — LEHR 2002: 204
Dipsas bicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 230
Dipsas bicolor — SUNYER & MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA 2023 
DistributionHonduras, S Nicaragua, N Costa Rica

Type locality: Chontales mine, Nicaragua  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 94.10.1.39, male, collected by R. A. Rix
Holotype: CAS 91203 (was: UCLA 6160) [tricolor] 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: The tricolor coloration of dark and light rings with red areas in the light rings, in combination with the absence of a mental groove and the unpaired rectangular chin shields (fig. 11.14e), will distinguish this form from all other snakes treated in Costa Rica (Savage 2002: 597).


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CommentDistribution: Reports from Peru (e.g. LEHR 2002 ?) are likely to be misidentifications of D. gracilis (HARVEY 2008). This species has been reported from Peru, but without specific locality (T. Doan, pers. comm. 30 Apr 2012).

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin bicolor, of two colors. 
References
  • Brattstrom, B. H., & HOWELL, T. R. 1954. Notes on some collections of reptiles and amphibians from Nicaragua. Herpetologica 10: 114-123. - get paper here
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - 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
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Lehr, E. 2002. Amphibien und Reptilien in Peru. Natur und Tier-Verlag (Münster), 208 pp. - get paper here
  • McCranie J R 2011. The snakes of Honduras. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 725 pp.
  • McCranie, James R. 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with additions, comments on taxonomy, some recent taxonomic decisions, and areas of further studies needed. Zootaxa 3931 (3): 352–386 - 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
  • Ray JM, Sánchez-Martínez P, Batista A, Mulcahy DG, Sheehy III CM, Smith EN, Pyron RA, Arteaga A 2023. A new species of Dipsas (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) from central Panama. ZooKeys 1145: 131–167
  • Sasa, M., Arias, E., & Chaves, G. 2025. Annotated list of amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: The role of the Museum of Zoology in cataloging the country’s herpetological diversity. Revista de Biología Tropical, 73(S2): e64536-e64536 - 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]
  • Solís, J. M., L. D. Wilson, and J. H. Townsend. 2014. An updated list of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with comments on their nomenclature. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 123–144 - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier & José́ Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca 2023. An updated country checklist to the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. REVISTA NICARAGÜENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD (100): 1-25 - 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.
 
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