Oxybelis microphthalmus BARBOUR & AMARAL, 1926
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Oxybelis microphthalmus?
Oxybelis microphthalmus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Thrornscrub Vine Snake |
| Synonym | Oxybelis microphthalmus BARBOUR & AMARAL 1926 Dryinus aeneus – WAGLER 1824 (part) Oxybelis aeneus – DUMÉRIL et al. 1854: 819 (part) Dryophis acuminata – GÜNTHER 1858: 156 (part) Oxybelis acuminata – BOULENGER 1896: 192 (part) Oxybelis aeneus auratus – BOGERT & OLIVER 1945: 381 (part) Oxybelis aeneus auratus – ZWEIFEL & NORRIS 1955 (part) Oxybelis aeneus – KEISER 1974: 7 (part) Oxybelis microphthalmus — JADIN et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | USA (Arizona), Mexico (Chiapas, Morelos, Oaxaca, Aguascalientes, Tamaulipas, Campeche, Jalisco, Sonora, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Puebla, Guerrero, Durango) auratus: Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua Type locality: Calabasas Canyon, Arizona, USA (circa 31° 28′ N, 110° 58′ W). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MCZ 22417 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A vine snake with (1) three upper labials (4–5–6) bordering the orbit; (2) black spots or bars on anterior body, dorsum mostly uniform brown with little black pigment; there are small scattered black spots on the dorsum; (3) venter is finely mottled and it can have a dark lateral stripe on the outer edge of each ventral, and a pale mid-ventral stripe; (4) eye diameter shorter than preocular; (5) second pair of chin shields in contact for most of their length; (6) eight upper labials in most Arizona and Sonora specimens, nine upper labials in other Mexican populations, but all tend to have three labials behind orbit; (7) snout from above is narrow, tapered, and rounded at the tip (snout type A); (8) supraoculars are longer than the prefrontals; (9) lower surface of the head is uniform white or yellow in color (not mottled); (10) last upper labial shorter than primary temporal; and (11) second upper labial does not contact the preocular. The rostral is visible from above and followed by nine platelike scales on the crown: a pair of internasals, a pair of prefrontals, the frontal and two larger supraoculars, and a pair of parietals. Preoculars extend slightly on to the crown between the prefrontals and supraoculars. In profile the nasal scale is elongate extending from the edge of the rostral, beyond the posterior edge of the internasal to the anterior border of the fused prefrontal–loreal. Eye diameter/internasal ratio in this species averages 0.82 (n = 34, r = 0.58–0.97, SD = 0.10). Preocular scale (Keiser 1974, Jadin et al. 2020). |
| Comment | Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018, by implication). Synonymy: After Jadin et al. 2020 who revalidated Oxybelis microphthalmus from the synonymy of O. aeneus. Distribution: Not in Querétaro fide Tepos-Ramírez et al. (2023). |
| Etymology | Named after the Greek micros (= small) and Greek ophthalmos = eye, face. |
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