Leptophis coeruleodorsus OLIVER, 1942
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Leptophis coeruleodorsus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Green-and-yellow Parrot Snake, Oliver’s parrot snake E: Tobagan Parrot Snake [haileyi] |
| Synonym | Leptophis coeruleodorsus OLIVER 1942: 4 Ahaetulla liocercus — REINHARDT & LÜTKEN 1862: 10 Dendrophis liocercus — COURT 1884: 382 Leptophis liocercus — MOLE & URICH 1894a: 85 Leptophis ahaetulla ortoni — BEEBE 1946: 34 Leptophis coeruleodorsus — BEEBE 1946: 34 Thalerophis richardi coeruleodorsus — OLIVER 1948: 228 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — ICZN 1958: 270 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — MERTENS 1972 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — MERTENS 1973 Leptophis ahaetulla — EMSLEY 1977: 241 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — KORNACKER 1997 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — BOOS 2001 Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorsus — UGUETO & RIVAS 2010 Leptophis coeruleodorsus — MURPHY et al. 2013 Leptophis haileyi MURPHY, CHARLES, LEHTINEN & KOELLER 2013 Leptophis coeruleodorsus — ALBUQUERQUE et al. 2022 Leptophis haileyi — MURPHY et al. 2023 |
| Distribution | Venezuela, Tobago, Trinidad, Isla de Margarita Type locality: Trinidad, British West Indies. Here we restrict the type locality to Mt. St. Benedict, Tunapuna, Trinidad (~10°39’N 61°23’W). There are three well documented specimens collected from this location. haileyi: Tobago; Type locality: Tobago near Roxborough at 11° 15′ 05.8′′N, 60° 34′ 04.7′′W. |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: AMNH 9022 (also given as AMNH 209022). Holotype: CAS 245313, male; collected by P.G. Frank, P.A. Frank, and R. Lawson in 2006 [haileyi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Leptophis coeruleodorsus can be distinguished from its congeners by the following unique combination of character states: (1) head scales not edged with black and with no black spots; (2) adult color pattern with no dark dorsal bands; (3) dorsum with two dorsolateral stripes separated from each other by middorsal area about three to nine scale rows wide, at least anteriorly; (4) dorsals keeled, except first dorsal row on each side; keels of dorsals slightly black; (5) no loreal scale; (6) ventrals 144–168 in males, 157–178 in females; (7) subcaudals 141–166 in males, 125–174 in females; (8) dorsal scales of tail with no keels; (9) maxillary teeth 22–24; (10) TL/SvL: 95% CI = 0.632–0.663 mm (n = 18); (11) small spines at first basal row of hemipenial body; (12) asulcate side of hemipenis similar to sulcate side. Comparisons. Leptophis coeruleodorsus differs from all members of the L. ahaetulla complex by dorsal color pattern with two dorsolateral stripes at rows 2–4 or 2–5 (occasionally 2–3 or 3–5) (Fig. 12A–B) separated from each other by middorsal area about three to nine scale rows wide, at least anteriorly (vs. dorsolateral stripes usually absent; if present, separated from each other by vertebral stripe one to one and half scale wide, at least anteriorly). Further, L. coeruleodorsus differs from sympatric L. occidentalis by having dorsal coloration reduced posteriorly, becoming Pale Cinnamon (55) (Fig. 12C) to bronze in preservative (vs. uniform dorsal coloration; Fig. 29A); pre-ocular black stripe always absent or reduced to black margin on second and third supralabials (vs. preocular black stripe present and always reduced to upper margin on second, third and fourth supralabials); and the lowest number of ventrals in males—95% CI = 158.6–161 and females—162.6–165.2 (vs. 164.9–166.9 and 167–169.9, respectively) (Table 2). (Albuquerque et al. 2022). Additional details (4977 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Leptophis haileyi was synonymized with Leptophis coeruleodorsus by Albuquerque & Fernandes 2022. Not listed by WALLACH et al. 2014:372 but mentioned under L. ahaetulla as valid fide Navarrete et al. 2009: 61. Distribution: Literature reports of L. coeruleodorsus on the Isla de Margarita need verification. Pérez-Santos (1988) reported this species from western Colombia, probably based upon mis-identified L. a. occidentalis. See map in Albuquerque & Fernandes 2022: 18 (Fig. 18). Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin coerulea = dark colored, dark blue, and Latin dorsum = back, even though the dorsal color is usually not blue (but the green color can turn to blue in preservative). L. haileyi was named in honor of Adrian Hailey, the University of the West Indies for his contributions to the herpetology of Trinidad and Tobago. |
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