Black-Headed Snake
Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758)
Also calledCinco-Minutos (por) · Cobra-Rainha (por) · Cobra-da-Terra (por) · Cobra-da-Terra, Coral-Falsa, Falsa-Cabeça-Preta (por) · Cobra-do-Folhiço (por) · Coral-Falsa (por) · Couleuvre à tête noire (fra) · Couleuvre à tête noire (La) (fra) · Culebra de cabeza negra (spa) · Dunkelköpfige Schwarzkopfschlange (deu) · Falsa-Cabeça-Preta (por) · Falsa-Coral (por) · Onze-Horas (por) · Sydamerikansk Sorthovedet Skolopendersnog (dan)
First described in: Linnaeus, C. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
distribution
Distribution. Widespread from Central America (Wallach et al., 2014) and the Lesser Antilles (Wilson et al., 2015), to South America in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago (Plt. 149 A). In Brazil, recorded in Amazonia, Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Cerrado, Guianan savannas, Araucaria forest, Pantanal, and Pampas Grasslands (Plt. 149 A), from low to high elevations (Plt. 149 B). Observed in the field in savanna, grassland (Valdujo et al., 2009), and forest (Martins and Oliveira, 1998).
Atlas of Brazilian Snakes: Verified Point-Locality Maps to Mitigate the Wallacean Shortfall in a Megadiverse Snake Fauna
Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus 1758) Linnaeus 1758
Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) (Figs. 13.2 and 26.1) Recorded in all states of the Caatinga, except Rio Grande do Norte, probably as a result of sampling gaps. It was found in low and high altitudes (up to 1000 m elevation). Besides the Caatinga, it is widely distributed in Atlantic Forest, Amazon Forest, Cerrado, Pantanal, and Pampas (Cunha & Nascimento 1978; Strüssmann & Sazima 1993; Martins & Oliveira 1998; Cechin 1999; Marques et al. 2001; Lema 2002a; Argôlo 2004; Colli 2005; Marques et al. 2005; Marques et al. 2005; Bérnils et al. 2008; Sawaya et al. 2008; Nogueira et al. 2010; Zaher et al. 2011). This species was recorded in interfluvial savannas, in the Cerrado (Sawaya et al. 2008; Recoder et al. 2011). Inside Caatinga, It seems be found on all kinds of vegetation described in this study. It has terrestrial habits, is diurnal and nocturnal, and feeds on chilopods (Cunha & Nascimento 1978; Martins & Oliveira 1998; Argôlo 2004; Marques et al. 2005; Sawaya et al. 2008).
Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil
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Every page naming Tantilla melanocephala in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2456438.