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Oxyrhopus occipitalis (WIED-NEUWIED, 1824)

IUCN Red List - Oxyrhopus occipitalis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymNatrix occipitalis WIED-NEUWIED in SPIX 1824
Oxyrhopus occipitalis (WAGLER) — LYNCH 2009
Oxyrhopus occipitalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 519 
DistributionS Panama (Darien), Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Brazil (Pará, Acre etc.), Peru (see comment)

Type locality: Rio Solimõens, Amazonas, Brazil  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype, ZSM 2053/0, a 746 mm male (collected by Spix and Martius expedition to Brazil 1817-1820), designated by Hoogmoed and Gruber, 1983: 328. 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy: Bailey (1970) synonymised O. occipitalis with O. formosus, despite his stated belief that the latter consists of a complex of species. Oxyrhopus occipitalis was revalidated by Hoge et al. (1973). Hence not listed by PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970, nor by FRANK & RAMUS 1995, nor by PEREZ-SANTOS & MORENO 1988. Nogueira et al. 2019 (Atlas) considered O. occipitalis and O. formosus as synonyms.

Similar species: Due to confusion with O. formosus (Wied-Neuwied), the entire range of this species cannot be determined until a revision of the formosus complex is undertaken. Perhaps some of the specimens listed under O. formosus will turn out to be O. occipitalis (Wallach and Williams, unpubl.). What was reported as Clelia bicolor from northeastern Peru by Dixon & Soini (1977, 1986) is almost certainly O. occipitalis. The specimens reported as O. formosus from eastern Ecuador (Duellman, 1978) are O. occipitalis, based on the color description provided. O. occipitalis may be confused with juvenile Clelia clelia and with Pseudoboa neuwiedii. O. occipitalis exhibits strong ontogenetic change in color pattern (juveniles have a yellow head with the body and tail banded black and yellow-white whereas adults have a yellow snout (extending to the suture between the prefrontals and frontal), rest of black head, and red body and tail [scale tips black], LYNCH 2009). RIVAS et al. 2012 follow MacCulloch et al. (2009) and consider the specimens reported as O. formosus from Venezuela to be O. occipitalis.

Oxyrhopus occipitalis differs from O. formosus by its slender body form (more robust in O. formosus), snout yellow and top of head brown (entire head yellow or cream), adults red with very faint body bands (adults with prominent black bands). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin occipitalis, pertaining to the back of the head. (Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) 
References
  • BERNARDE, P.S., ALBUQUERQUE, S., BARROS, T.O. & TURCI, L.C.B. 2012. Serpentes do Estado de Rondônia, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 12 (3): 1-29 - get paper here
  • Bernarde, Paulo Sérgio;, Reginaldo Assêncio Machado & Luiz Carlos Batista Turci 2011. Herpetofauna da área do Igarapé Esperança na Reserva Extrativista Riozinho da Liberdade, Acre – Brasil. Biota Neotropica 11 (3): 117-144 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (4): 317-578; plates: 580-620 - get paper here
  • Costa-Campos, Carlos E., Pedro G. Nery Sampaio, Juliana G. Corréa, Yuri B. Silva E. Silva, Raimundo R. Jesus Baía, Hélio R. M. Pamphilio Júnior, Mayara F. M. Furtado and Pedro F. França. 2015. Oxyrhopus occipitalis melanism. Herpetological Review 46 (1): 105 - get paper here
  • Crnobrna B, Santa-Cruz Farfan R, Gallegos C, López-Rojas JJ, Llanqui IB, Pisco GP, Arbaiza AK 2023. Herpetological records from the Abujao basin, central Peruvian Amazon. Check List 19(4): 433-465 - get paper here
  • da Silva, Jr., N. J. and Sites, Jr., J. W. 1995. Patterns of diversity of neotropical squamate reptile species with emphasis on the Brazilian Amazon and the conservation potential of indigenous reserves. Conserv. Biol. 9 (4): 873-901 - get paper here
  • Fraga R de, Stow AJ, Magnusson WE, Lima AP 2014. The Costs of Evaluating Species Densities and Composition of Snakes to Assess Development Impacts in Amazonia. PLoS One 9 (8): e105453. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105453 - get paper here
  • Fraga, R., Lima, A. P., Prudente, A. L. C., & Magnusson, W. E. 2013. Guia de cobras da região de Manaus – Amazônia Central. Manaus: INPA - get paper here
  • Freitas, M. A. de, Venancio, N. M., Abegg, A. D., Azevedo, W. S, Pereira, V. O., Zanotti, A. P., Veloso, A., Schwarzbach, L., Oliveira, A. G., da Silva, R. C. C., de Amorim, V. R. G. and de Moura, G. J. B. 2020. Herpetofauna at the Rio Acre Ecological Station, Amazon Rainforest, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 13: 33-48. - get paper here
  • Lima Moraes, L. J. C. de, do Nascimento Rainha, R., de Pinho Werneck, F., de Souza Oliveira, A. F., Gascon, C., & de Carvalho, V. T. 2022. Amphibians and reptiles from a protected area in western Brazilian Amazonia (Reserva Extrativista do Baixo Juruá). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 62, e202262054-e202262054 - get paper here
  • Lynch, J.D. 2009. Snakes of the genus Oxyrhopus (Colubridae: Squamata) in Colombia: taxonomy and geographic variation. Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 49(25):319-337 - get paper here
  • MacCulloch, R. D.; Lathrop, A.; Kok, P.; Ernst, R. & Kalamandeen, M. 2009. The genus Oxyrhopus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae: Xenodontinae) in Guyana: morphology, distributions and comments on taxonomy. Pap. Avuls. Zool. 49 (36): 487‐495 - get paper here
  • Mendes-Pinto, T. J. & S. Marques de Souza 2011. Preliminary assessment of amphibians and reptiles from Floresta Nacional do Trairão, with a new snake record for the Pará state, Brazilian Amazon. Salamandra 47 (4): 199-206 - get paper here
  • Miranda, Daniele Bazzo; Nathocley Mendes Venâncio, Saymon de Albuquerque 2014. Rapid survey of the herpetofauna in an area of forest management in eastern Acre, Brazil. Check List 10 (4): 893-899 - get paper here
  • Morato, S.A.A.; Calixto, P.O.; Mendes, L.R.; Gomes, R.; Galatti, U.; Trein, F.L.; Oliveira, F.S.; Ferreira, G.N. 2014. Guia fotográfico de identificação da herpetofauna da Floresta Nacional de Saracá-Taquera, Estado do Pará. Curitiba: STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda.; Porto Trombetas: MRN – Mineração Rio do Norte S.A.; 213 p. - get paper here
  • Morato, Sérgio Augusto Abrahão; Guilherme Nunes Ferreira; Michela Rossane Cavilha Scupino (eds.) 2018. Herpetofauna da Amazônia Central: Estudos na FLONA de Saracá-Taquera. Curitiba, Pr: STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda.; Porto Trombetas, Pa: MRN – Mineração Rio do Norte S.A., 2018.<br>210p. - get paper here
  • Natera-Mumaw, Marco; Luis Felipe Esqueda-González & Manuel Castelaín-Fernández 2015. Atlas Serpientes de Venezuela. Santiago de Chile, Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., 456 pp. - get paper here
  • Pedroso-Santos, Fillipe; Patrick Ribeiro Sanches, and Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos, 2019. Anurans and reptiles of the Reserva Extrativista Beija-Flor Brilho de Fogo, Amapá state, eastern Amazon. Herpetology Notes 12: 799-807 - get paper here
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Romero-Marcucci, Angel; Macario Gonzaléz-Pinzón, Ángel Sosa-Bartuano & Marcos Ponce 2024. First record of Oxyrhopus occipitalis (Wied-Neuwied, 1824) in Central America Primer registro de Oxyrhopus occipitalis (Wied-Neuwied, 1824) en América Central. RevCient.VidNat, 1(2): 53-62 - get paper here
  • Spix, J.B. von. 1824. Serpentum brasiliensium species novae ou histoire naturelle des espèces nouvelles de serpens, recueillies et observées pendant le voyage dans l'intérieur du Brésil dans les années 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, exécuté par ordre de sa majesté le Roi de Bavi Typis Franc. Seraph. Hübschmanni, Monachii viii + 75 pp. - get paper here
  • Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D. 2019. Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich portal, with a dynamic checklist and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1): [General Section]: 209–229 (e178) - get paper here
  • Waldez, F., Menin, M., & Vogt, R. C. 2013. Diversidade de anfíbios e répteis Squamata na região do baixo rio Purus, Amazônia Central, Brasil. Biota Neotropica, 13: 300–316 - 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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