Rhadinaea cuneata MYERS, 1974

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Higher Taxa	Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Veracruz Graceful Brown Snake S: Hojarasquera de Veracruz
Synonym	Rhadinaea cuneata MYERS 1974: 65 Rhadinaea cuneata — LINER 1994 Rhadinaea cuneata — LINER 2007 Rhadinaea cuneata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 639
Distribution	Mexico (Oaxaca, Veracruz, SE Puebla) Type locality: Ojo del Agua, Nacimiento del Río Atoyac, about 10 km (air line) NNE of Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico [ca. 19.000327, -96.902563] other localities: ca. 18.395453, -96.872351 (LURÍA-MANZANO et al. 2014), ca. 18.067977, -96.192933 (McCoid and Dixon 1981), ca. 17.84723,-96.03763 (Nigel Voaden, pers. comm., verified by Luis Canseco, 19 Oct 2015).
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: UAZ 26580, paratypes: UMMZ
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Rhadinaea cuneata is the only North American species of Rhadinaea that has a pale postocular marking in the shape of a wedge. The point of the wedge is at the upper rear edge of the eye, and the wide posterior part occupies about equal portions of the parietal plate and temporal region. There is a pair of large pale blotches immediately behind the head, forming an incomplete collar that is broken on the dorsal midline. Additional specimens conceivably might show the wedge-marking to be variable in shape, but probably this marking is invariably more than a thin line and probably there is always the pair of large pale blotches behind the head. Sympatric populations of Rhadinaea decorata also are characterized by two conspicuous markings on each side of the head and nape, but in decorata the markings are paler and heavily rimmed in black, and the one behind the eye is unexpanded and nearly confined to the edge of the parietal plate, with little or no overlap onto the temporal scales. Also, there are significant differences in numbers of ventrals (MYERS 1974: 65) Additional details (1170 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Conservation: this is a very rare species known from only 5 specimens (Luría-Manzano et al. 2014) and possibly some additional specimens reported in iNaturalist. Group: Rhadinaea decorata group
Etymology	From the Latin cuneātus meaning wedged in allusion to its postocular mark with shape of wedge.
References	Casas-Andreu, G., F.R. Méndez-De la Cruz and X. Aguilar-Miguel. 2004. Anfibios y Reptiles; pp. 375–390, in A.J.M. García-Mendoza, J. Ordoñez and M. Briones-Salas (ed.). Biodiversidad de Oaxaca. Instituto de Biología, UNAM-Fondo Oaxaqueño para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-World Wildlife Fund, México, D. F. Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp Liner, Ernest A. 2007. A CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MEXICO. Louisiana State University Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science 80: 1-60 - get paper here Luría-Manzano, Ricardo; Aurelio Ramírez-Bautista, and Luis Canseco-Márquez 2014. Rediscovery of the Rare Snake Rhadinaea cuneata Myers, 1974 (Serpentes: Colubridae: Dipsadinae). Journal of Herpetology Mar 2014, Vol. 48, No. 1: 122-124. - get paper here Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here Myers, C.W. 1974. The systematics of Rhadinaea (Colubridae), a genus of New World snakes. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 153 (1): 1-262 - get paper here Torres-Hernández, LA, Ramírez-Bautista A, Cruz-Elizalde R, Hernández-Salinas U, Berriozabal-Islas C, DeSantis DL, Johnson JD, Rocha A, García-Padilla E, Mata-Silva V, Fucsko LA, and Wilson LD. 2021. The herpetofauna of Veracruz, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2) [General Section]: 72–155 - get paper here Vásquez-Cruz, Víctor; Luis Canseco-Márquez 2020. AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILES OF THE COLONIA AGRÍCOLA RINCÓN DE LAS FLORES, TEZONAPA, VERACRUZ, MEXICO. Rev. Latinoamer. Herp. 3 (1): 66-80 - 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. Woolrich-Piña, G. A., E. García-Padilla, D. L. DeSantis, J. D. Johnson, V. Mata-Silva, and L. D. Wilson 2017. The herpetofauna of Puebla, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(4): 791–884 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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