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Ninia maculata (PETERS, 1861)

IUCN Red List - Ninia maculata - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Pacific Banded Coffee Snake, Spotted Coffee Snake 
SynonymStreptophorus (Ninia) maculatus PETERS 1861: 924
Streptophorus Sebae var. maculatus — JAN 1865
Ninia sebae tessellatus COPE 1875: 145
Ninia atrata tessellata — COPE 1887: 74
Streptophorus atrata BOULENGER 1893
Streptophorus subtessellatus WERNER 1909 (?, HALLERMANN, pers. comm.)
Ninia maculata — SLEVIN 1942: 468
Ninia tessellata — TAYLOR 1951: 53
Ninia tessellata — TAYLOR 1954: 698
Ninia maculata tessellata — BURGER & WERLER 1954
Ninia maculata — BAUER et al. 1995: 74
Ninia maculata — PIZZATTO et al. 2008
Ninia maculata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 487
Ninia maculata — CURLIS et al. 2020 
DistributionGuatemala, El Salvador ?, Honduras (McCranie et al. 2001), Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

Type locality: “Costa Rica”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 1872, 1873 (2 specimens), 1874 (2 specimens)
Syntypes: USNM 32568-9 [tesselatus]
Holotype: ZMH 4185, lost [subtessellatus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Ninia maculata can be distinguished from all other Honduran snakes, except other Ninia, in having keeled scales in 19 rows throughout the body. Ninia diademata has a uniformly black dorsum and a pale nuchal collar (versus distinct dark dor­ sal crossbands present and pale nuchal collar absent in N. maculata). Ninia espinali and N. setae lack distinct black markings on the venter (versus distinct black to dark brown ventral blotches present in N. maculata). Ninia pavimentata has 63 or more subcaudal scales versus 63 or fewer subcaudals in N. maculata) (McCranie 2011: 340). 
CommentThe type of Streptophorus subtessellatus has been lost, hence it is impossible to determine its identity with certainty.

Synonymy: following DUNN 1935. 
EtymologyThe name maculata is formed from the Latin word maculo (spotted) and the Latin suffix -atus (provided with, having the nature of, pertaining to). The name alludes to the strongly spotted ventral surface in this species (McCranie 2011: 340). 
References
  • Angarita-Sierra, Teddy 2014. Hemipenial Morphology in the Semifossorial Snakes of the Genus Ninia and a New Species from Trinidad, West Indies (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) . South American J. Herp. 9 (2): 114-130 - get paper here
  • Arias, Erick; Federico Bolaños 2014. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of San Isidro de Dota, Reserva Forestal Los Santos, Costa Rica. Check List 10 (4): 870-877 - get paper here
  • Barquero-González, J.P., Stice, T.L., Gómez, G., & Monge-Nájera, J. 2020. Are tropical reptiles really declining? A six-year survey of snakes in a tropical coastal rainforest: role of prey and environment. Revista de Biología Tropical, 68(1): 336-343; doi:10.20944/preprints201908.0123.v1 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp.
  • Burger, W.L. & Werler,J.E. 1954. The subspecies of the ring-necked coffee snake Ninia diademata, and a short biological and taxonomic account of the genus. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 36: 643-672 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1875. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica with notes on the herpetology and ichthyology of Nicaragua and Peru. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia N.S. (2) 8: 93-183 [sometimes said to be published 1876 but see Murphy et al. 2007 for clarification]] - get paper here
  • Curlis JD, Fisher EC, Muhic WK, Moy J, Garro-Cruz M, Montero-Ramírez JJ 2020. A survey of the reptiles and amphibians at the University of Georgia Costa Rica field station in San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1433-1456 - get paper here
  • Hilje B, Chaves G, Klank J, Timmerman F, Feltham J, Gillingwater S, Piraino T, Rojas E 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Tirimbina Biological Reserve: a baseline for conservation, research and environmental education in a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1633-1655 - get paper here
  • Jan, G. 1865. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 12. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - get paper here
  • Jansen, M. & G. Koehler 2002. Biogeographische Analyse der Herpetofauna von ausgewählten Hochlandgebieten Nicaraguas. Salamandra 38 (4): 269-286 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • López-Maroto, V., Sunyer, J., & García-Roa, R. 2023. The herpetofauna of Cerro Jesús María (Cordillera Dipilto-Jalapa), the second highest mountain in Nicaragua. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 34 - get paper here
  • Martínez-Fonseca JG, Holmes IA, Sunyer J, Westeen EP, Grundler MR, Cerda PA, Fernández-Mena MA, Loza-Molina JC, Monagan IV Jr., Nondorf D, Pandelis GG, Rabosky ARD 2023. A collection and analysis of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua with new country and departmental records. Check List 20(1): 58-125 - 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
  • McCranie,J.R.; Wilson,L.D. & Gotte,S.W. 2001. Three new country records for Handuran snakes. Herpetological Review 32: 62-63 - get paper here
  • MURPHY R. W., SMITH A. and NGO A. 2007. The versions of Cope's Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 7 (1): - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1861. Über neue Schlangen des Königl. zoologischen Museums: Typhlops striolatus, Geophidium dubium, Streptophorus (Ninia) maculatus, Elaps hippocrepis. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1861 (October): 922-925 - 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
  • Ray, Julie M. and Patty Ruback 2015. Updated checklists of snakes for the provinces of Panamá and Panamá Oeste, Republic of Panama. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (2): 168-188 - get paper here
  • Rovito, Sean Michael; Thomas James Devitt, Susan Cameron Devitt 2015. First survey of the amphibians and reptiles of the Nectandra Cloud Forest Reserve, Alajuela, Costa Rica. Check List 11 (2): 1570 - get paper here
  • Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Jesus Pacheco, Fernando Mendoza-Quijano, Federico Bolaños,<br>Gerardo Cháves , Gretchen C. Daily, Paul R. Ehrlich & Gerardo Ceballos 2008. Diversity, natural history and conservation of amphibians and reptiles from the San Vito Region, southwestern Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (2): 755-778 - 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]
  • Slevin, J.R. 1942. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Boquete, Panama, with the description of a new species of Hydromorphus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 23: 463-480 - get paper here
  • Smith B E. Campbell J A. 1996. The systematic status of Guatemalan populations of snakes allied with Ninia maculata (Reptilia: Colubridae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 109 (4): 749-754. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Solorzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica - Snakes of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Costa Rica, 792 pp.
  • Solorzano, Alejandro. 2014. Ninia maculata. Behavior. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (1): 161-162 - 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
  • Taylor,E.H. 1954. Further studies on the serpents of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 36: 673-800. - 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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