Shaw's dark ground snake

Shaw's dark ground snake (Erythrolamprus melanotus), also known commonly as Shaw's black-backed snake, and in Spanish as candelilla, guarda caminos, and reinita cazadora, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to northern South America.^[4]

Shaw's dark ground snake
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Erythrolamprus
Species:	E. melanotus
Binomial name
Erythrolamprus melanotus (Shaw, 1802)[2]
Subspecies
L. m. melanotus (Shaw, 1802) L. m. lamari Dixon & Michaud, 1992 L. m. nesos Dixon & Michaud, 1992
Synonyms[3]
Coluber melanotus Shaw, 1802 Liophis melanotus (Shaw, 1802) Dromicus melanotus (Shaw, 1802) Leimadophis melanotus (Shaw, 1802) Lemiadophis [sic] melanotus (Shaw, 1802) Coluber (Natrix) raninus Merrem, 1820 Coluber vittatus Hallowell, 1845 Liophis melanonotus Cope, 1860 (missp.) Aporophis crucifer Ahl, 1925

Etymology

The English common names for E. melanotus refer to English biologist George Kearsley Shaw, who described and named this snake as a species new to science in 1802.^[5]

Classification

Erythrolamprus melanotus belongs to the genus Erythrolamprus, which contains over 50 species. The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae. The relationships of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America (Venezuela) can be shown in the cladogram below, based on molecular DNA analysis:^[6]

	E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic) E. ceii E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic)
	E. miliaris E. miliaris E. typhlus (Brazil) (paraphyletic) E. reginae (paraphyletic) E. reginae (paraphyletic) E. zweifeli E. breviceps E. epinephalus (Peru) (paraphyletic) E. epinephalus (Costa Rica) (paraphyletic) E. pseudoreginae Erythrolamprus melanotus E. atraventer E. jaegeri E. almadensis E. juliae E. cursor E. typhlus (French Guiana) (paraphyletic) E. cobella E. aesculapii (Brazil) (paraphyletic) E. ocellatus E. aesculapii (French Guiana & Guyana) (paraphyletic) E. bizona E. mimus

Description

Erythrolamprus melanotus grows up to a total length (including tail) of 43 cm (17 in).^[4]

Dorsally, it has a light yellow or pinkish color, with a wide, dark vertebral stripe,^[4] which is bordered on each side by a thin whitish stripe, followed by a thin dark stripe. The top of the head is olive, and there is a dark stripe passing through the eye. The upper labials and the venter (underside) of the snake are whitish.^[7]

The dorsal scales are smooth, with apical pits, and are arranged in 17 rows at midbody.^[7]

Behavior and diet

Erythrolamprus melanotus is diurnal,^[4] hunting during the day along the forest floor, where it feeds on spectacled lizards in the genus Bachia, the rain frog Pristimantis urichi, the puddle frog Engystomops pustulosus, the gecko Gonatodes vittatus, and various unidentified fish.^[6]

Reproduction

Erythrolamprus melanotus is oviparous.^[3]

Geographic range

The geographic distribution of E. melanotus includes Colombia, Venezuela,^[8] and Trinidad and Tobago. It is probably extirpated from Grenada.^[4]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of E. melanotus are freshwater wetlands, forest, and savanna, at altitudes up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).^[1]