Xenodon rabdocephalus

Xenodon rabdocephalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Xenodon
Species: X. rabdocephalus
Binomial name
Xenodon rabdocephalus
(Weid, 1824)
Synonyms
  • Coluber rabdocephalus Wied, 1824
  • Xenodon rabdocephalus
    Fitzinger, 1826
  • Xenodon colubrinus Wucherer, 1862
  • Xenodon bertholdi Jan, 1863
  • Xenodon angustirostris
    W. Peters, 1864
  • Xenodon suspectus Cope 1868
  • Xenodon bipraeoculis Cope, 1885
  • Xenodon mexicanus
    H.M. Smith, 1940
  • Xenodon rabdocephalus
    Liner, 1994[1]

Xenodon rabdocephalus, commonly known as the false fer-de-lance, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake endemic to Central America and northern South America.

Geographic range

Southern Mexico in the states of Guerrero, Veracruz, Yucatan and Campeche, through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. Northern South America in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil where it occurs in the states of Amapá, Rondônia, Pará, Espírito Santo and Bahia.[1]

Habitat

Forest in the moist lowlands and the premontane regions.[2]

Description

A medium-sized snake which reaches a total length (including tail) of 80 centimetres (31 in). Mainly brown with a series of brown and grey hourglass-shaped dorsal blotches on the body.[2]

Diet

Feeds mainly on frogs and toads.[3]

Taxonomy

Two subspecies are recognised.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Xenodon&species=rabdocephalus
  2. 1 2 Savage, Jay M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xx + 934 pp. ISBN 0-226-73537-0.
  3. Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR. 1978. Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. ISBN 0-7167-0020-4. (Xenodon, p. 149).

Further reading


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