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Helicops leopardinus (SCHLEGEL, 1837)

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Leopard Keelback
Portuguese: Cobra-D’água, Jararaca-D’água 
SynonymHomalopsis leopardina SCHLEGEL 1837: 358
Helicops Leprieurii DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 750
Helicops Leprieurii — GÜNTHER 1861: 427
Helicops leopardinus — JAN 1865
Helicops leopardinus — BOULENGER 1893: 278
Helicops leopardinus — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980
Helicops leopardinus — CEI 1993
Helicops leopardinus — LEYNAUD & BUCHER 1999: 18
Helicops leopardinus — KAWASHITA-RIBEIRO et al. 2013
Helicops leopardinus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 322
Helicops leopardinus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionGuiana, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Amapá, Bahia, S Ceará, Mato Grosso, Piauí, Sergipe etc.), Bolivia (Beni), Paraguay,
N Argentina (Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Jujuy, Salta)
Colombia [Castro,F. (pers. comm.)], Ecuador [Cisneros-Heredia 2006], Peru.

Type locality: unknown (fide STARACE 1998)  
Reproductionovovivparous (Braz et al. 2016) 
TypesLectotype: RMNH RENA.1159, paralectotype: RMNH RENA.1158 (fide E. Dondorp, pers. comm., 28 Jan 2019); also given as Syntypes: RMNH, 600 and 480 mm specimens (de Fremery).
Syntype: USNM 394 [Helicops leprieurii] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Helicops leopardinus is distinguished from all its congeners except H. danieli and H. gomesi by the combination of grayish-olive to grayish-brown dorsum with 4–5 series of alternating dark spots, 18–22 dorsal scale rows at midbody, and absent intergenials. From H. danieli it differs in having a cream, yellow or red venter, checkered or banded black or both (versus cream venter with two medial rows of black semilunar marks). From H. gomesi it differs in having no subcaudal keels (for information on references see Suppl. material 3, Schöneberg & Köhler 2021). 
CommentThe occurrence of Helicops leopardinus in Colombia has been questioned (Pérez-Santos & Moreno, cited in Cadle, Herpetologica 48 (1): 137) 
EtymologyNamed after Latin leopardus, leopard, believed to be hybrid from lion (Latin Leo) and panther (Latin Pardus) + Latin -inus, having the nature or condition of. (SCHLEGEL 1837, Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) 
References
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