Brazilian Keelback
Helicops infrataeniatus Jan, 1865
Also calledCobra-D’água (por) · Cobra-D’água-Meridional (por) · Cobra-d'Água-Meridional (por) · Cobra-d'água (por) · Culebra de los esteros (spa) · Surinam-vandsnog (dan)
First described in: Jan, G. Enumerazione sistematica degli ofidi appartenenti ai gruppo Potamophilidae.
Descriptions from checklists and floras indexed by GBIF
distribution
Distribution. Known from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay (Plt. 282 A). In Brazil, recorded in southern portion of the Atlantic Forest, Araucaria Forest, and Pampas Grasslands, with marginal records in the Cerrado (Plt. 282 A), mostly at low elevations (Plt. 282 B). Observed in the field in lentic and lotic waters in open areas (Lema, 1994).
Atlas of Brazilian Snakes: Verified Point-Locality Maps to Mitigate the Wallacean Shortfall in a Megadiverse Snake Fauna
Diagnosis
This species can be distinguished from all its congeners, except H. carinicaudus , H. nentur and H. tapajonicus by the combination of a uniform or longitudinally striped dorsum, a cream or red venter with 1–3 dark stripes or darkly checkered and 17–20 dorsal scale rows at mid-body (versus 20–23 in H. trivittatus ). From H. nentur, it differs in having a semi-divided nasal scale, whereas H. nentur has an entire nasal scale. From H. carinicaudus, it differs in having a cream or red venter with 1–3 dark stripes or darkly checkered or black with light spots (versus two series of dark semi-lunar marks in H. carinicaudus ). In some specimens, intermediate patterns are observed. From H. tapajonicus, it differs in having strongly keeled dorsal scales, whereas H. tapajonicus has only a weak dorsal keeling. Additionally, H. tapajonicus possesses a ventrolateral greenish stripe, which is absent in H. infrataeniatus (for information on references, see Suppl. material 3). Furthermore, H. tapajonicus and H. infrataeniatus have allopatric distribution ranges.
Distribution and identification of the species in the genus Helicops Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae, Xenodontinae)
Distribution
Helicops infrataeniatus is recorded from the southern Brazilian States Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and from Paraguay, Uruguay and north-western Argentina Carreira Vidal et al. (2005) (Fig. 2b).
Distribution and identification of the species in the genus Helicops Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae, Xenodontinae)
Morphology remark
Morphology remark Kawashita-Ribeiro et al. (2013) reported subcaudal keels in H. infrataeniatus . In contrast, 57 of the 58 examined specimens during this study showed smooth subcaudal scales. Only SMNS 3065 had subcaudal keels (see Tables 1, 2).
Distribution and identification of the species in the genus Helicops Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae, Xenodontinae)
Where it has been recorded
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Helicops infrataeniatus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
From the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence records (GBIF.org), with Wikipedia and the Source Library. GBIF species 2457678.