Oxyrhopus fitzingeri (TSCHUDI, 1845)
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Oxyrhopus fitzingeri
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | Oxyrhopus fitzingeri fitzingeri (TSCHUDI 1845) Oxyrhopus fitzingeri frizzelli SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943 |
| Common Names | E: Fitzinger's False Coral Snake |
| Synonym | Siphlophis Fitzingeri TSCHUDI 1845: 165 Oxyrhopus fitzingeri — JAN 1863: 93 Oxyrrhopus [sic] fitzingeri — COPE 1878: 33 Oxyrhopus fitzingeri — PETERS et al. 1970: 231 Oxyrhopus fitzingeri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 517 Oxyrhopus fitzingeri frizzelli SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943 Oxyrhopus fitzingeri frizzelli SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 313 Clelia fitzingeri — DUNN 1923 Pseudoboa fitzingeri — AMARAL 1925 |
| Distribution | W Ecuador, W Peru frizzelli: Peru (Piura); Type locality: Negritos, Piura, Peru. Type locality: Peru |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MHNN (Neuchatel) Holotype: FMNH No. 35997 [frizzelli] |
| Diagnosis | Description: Oxyrhopus fitzingeri fitzingeri is a medium-sized snake with the strong musculature of a constricting species, characterized by singularly irregular dark brown markings on a yellowish ground color. These spots may cover only a single scale, or may be confluent into blotches or zigzag lines. It is distinguished from its northern subspecies (described below) by a much higher number of ventrals and caudals. It is a common snake of the arid coastal region from sea level to at least 6,000 feet altitude in the Rimac Valley. We have examined a single specimen in Field Museum, No. 34361, from Surco, collected by Marshall Hertig in 1938. This specimen, a female, has ventrals 227 and caudals 94; by division of anterior labials, there are 10 upper labials on each side; preoculars 2 on the left, 1 on the right side; length 714, tail 157. Search of the literature discloses two additional female specimens from the Rimac Valley or presumably so, and these agree with our Surco specimen and with the type in number of ventrals. In the type the ventrals number 236 and caudals 77, and it undoubtedly is a female; the specimen recorded by Boulenger has ventrals 232 and caudals 81; and one from Verrugas Canyon (see Hertig, 1942, pt. Ill, p. 24 and pi. 1), collected by C. H. T. Townsend, has ventrals 227 and caudals 79. The senior author has elsewhere called attention to the confusion of data in the Dresden Museum collection reported upon by Werner (1901). Much of the Chanchamayo material in the collection undoubtedly was received from the Chanchamayo near La Merced in the Department of Junin, the residence of Carlos Schunke, a dealer in museum specimens; but this could scarcely have been the locality where Oxyrhopus fitzingeri and Micrurus tschudii were collected. Such confusion of data in collections received from foreign correspondents is a not infrequent occurrence. TheDresdencollectionincludesspecimenswithboth high and low numbers of ventrals; but as these are not sexed they cannot be assorted, even arbitrarily, to the two subspecies of fitzingeri (SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 312). Diagnosis (frizzelli): An Oxyrhopus with the typical fitzingeri coloration, but with a much lower number of ventrals, 202-207 in females, contrasted with 227-236 in four female fitzingeri; and of caudals 57-69 instead of 77-94 (SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 314). Description of type (frizzelli): A relatively slender snake with small pointed head scarcely distinct from the neck. Rostral wider than high, well visible from above; internasals much smaller than prefrontals, their suture less than half that of the prefrontals; frontal a little longer than wide, shorter than the parietals; loreal twice as long as high; preocular single, widely separated from the frontal, postoculars 2 on each side; upper labials 8-8, the fourth and fifth entering the eye; lower labials 9-9 (SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 314). Coloration (frizzelli): General ground color pale yellow, the venter and lowermost scale rows immaculate; back heavily and irregularly marked with dark brown spots, mostly following scale outlines; top of head mottled with dark on a paler brown ground color; a solid dark brown nuchal mark nearly as long as the head (SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943: 314). |
| Comment | Synonymy of frizzelli after SCHMIDT & WALKER 1943. Photo on cover of Ophidia 2 (2) (2008). |
| Etymology | Named after Leopold Josef Fitzinger (1802-1884), Austrian naturalist. The subspecies frizzelli was named after the collectors, Harriet E. and Don L. Frizzell. |
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