Leptodeira ornata (BOCOURT, 1884)
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Leptodeira ornata
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Northern Cat-eyed Snake G: Gebänderte Katzenaugennatter S: Escombrera Manchada |
| Synonym | Comastes ornatus BOCOURT 1884: 141 Hypsiglena ornata – GÜNTHER 1895: 139 Leptodeira affinis – GÜNTHER 1895: 170 Leptodeira albofusca – BOULENGER 1896: 95 (part) Leptodeira dunckeri – WERNER 1913: 28 Leptodeira annulata annulata – AMARAL 1929: 78 (part) Pseudoleptodeira ornata – TANNER 1946: 31 Leptodeira septentrionalis ornata — DUELLMAN 1958: 51, 75 Leptodeira ornata — WALLACH et al. 2014 Leptodeira ornata — BARRIO-AMORÓS 2019 Leptodeira ornata — NUÑEZ-ESCALANTE & ACUÑA 2020 Leptodeira ornata — TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2020 Leptodeira ornata — COSTA et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | Nicaragua, C/E Panama, W Colombia (Antioquia, Atlantico, Caldas, Chocó, Cundinamarca, Norte de Santander, Santander, Valle del Cauca), W Ecuador Type locality: Isthmus of Darién, Panama |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Syntypes: MNHN 6201, MNHN 1994.1356 |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS: Leptodeira ornata can be distinguished from their South American congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) dorsal scales 17–21/19–23/13–17; (2) presubocular present; (3) supralabial scales 8–9/7–9, (4) infralabial scales 9–11/9–11; (5) ventral counts in males 170–193 and fe- males 169–194; (6) subcaudal counts in male 81–105 and females 77–99; (7) dorsum of the head brown, generally without spots; (8) occipital region light brown with medial wide line; (9) number of dark brown dorsal blotches in males 29–55 and females 29–56; (10) number of dorsal blotches in tail in male 18–36 and females 14–28; (11) SVL in males 341–543 mm and females 343–646 mm; and (12) tail long in males 27.77% of TTL and females 24.49% of TTL. Leptodeira ornata differs from L. annulata and L. approximans by the presence of medial wide line (vs. without well-defined occipital dark stains); from L. ashmeadii, L. bakeri, L. larcorum, L. pulchriceps, and L. tarairiu sp. nov. by the presence of a dark butterfly-shaped spot (vs. dark horseshoe-shaped spot in L. ashmeadii, L. pulchriceps, and L. tarairiu sp. nov.; a dark bar-shaped in L. bakeri; and dark butterfly-shaped spot in L. larcorum). (Costa et al. 2022: Supplement S2). |
| Comment | Synonymy: Mostly after Costa et al. 2022. L. s. ornata has been considered as invalid (D. Mulcahy, pers. comm. 3 March 2013, polyphyletic in Daza et al. 2009), but revalidated by Barrios-Amoros 2019. Note that Torres-Carvajal et al. 2020 redefined and restricted L. ornata to a single monophyletic clade in Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Similar species: L. septentrionalis, L. larcorum Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). Distribution: see map in Costa et al. 2022: Fig. 12 in Supplement S2. The status of populations in Panama and Ecuador seems to be unresolved (see Costa et al. 2022). |
| Etymology | Named after the ornate pattern of the species. |
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