''Atractus emigdioi'', also known
commonly as Emigdio's ground snake, is a
species of
snake in the
family Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...
. The species is
endemic to
Venezuela.
[
]
Etymology
The specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''emigdioi'', is in honor of Emigdio González-Sponga who collected the holotype.[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Atractus emigdioi'', p. 83).]
Geographic range
''A. emigdioi'' is found in the Cordillera de Mérida
The Cordillera de Mérida is a series of mountain ranges, or massif, in northwestern Venezuela. The Cordillera de Mérida is a northeastern extension of the Andes Mountains and the most important branch of the Venezuelan Andes. The ranges run south ...
in the Venezuelan states of Mérida and Trujillo.[
]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of ''A. emigdioi'' is forest, at altitudes of .
Behavior
''A. emigdioi'' is terrestrialfossorial
A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees.
Prehistoric eviden ...
( Schargel & Castoe, 2003).
Reproduction
''A. emigdioi'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Esqueda LF, La Marca E (2005). "''Revisión taxonómica y biogeográfica (con descripción de cinco nuevas especies) de serpientes del género ''Atractus'' (Colubridae: Dipsadinae) en los Ande de Venezuela''". ''Herpetotropicos'' 2 (1): 1–32. (in Spanish, with an abstract in English).
* González-Sponga MA (1971). "Atractus emigdioi ''(Serpentes: Colubridae) nueva especie para los Andes de Venezuela''". ''Monografías Cientificas Augusto Pi Suñer, Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas'' (3): 1–11. (''Atractus emigdioi'', new species). (in Spanish).
* Schargel WE, Castoe TA (2003). "The Hemipenes of Some Snakes of the Semifossorial Genus ''Atractus'', with Comments on Variation in the Genus". ''Journal of Herpetology'' 37 (4): 718–721.
Atractus
Reptiles of Venezuela
Endemic fauna of Venezuela
Reptiles described in 1971
{{Colubrid-stub