''Chironius'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

colubrid 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 ...

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s, commonly called sipos (from the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

word ''cipó'' for

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

), savanes, or sometimes vine snakes. There are 23 described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

in this genus.

Species

The following 23 species are recognized as being valid. *'' Chironius bicarinatus'' (

Wied Wied may mean: Places *County of Wied, a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany *Wied (river), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany *Wied, Rhineland-Palatinate, a community in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany *Wied, Texas, an unincorporated area in Texas ...

, 1820) – two-headed sipo *'' Chironius brazili'' *'' Chironius carinatus'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoological ...

) – machete savane *'' Chironius challenger'' Kok, 2010 *'' Chironius diamantina'' *'' Chironius exoletus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Linnaeus' sipo *'' Chironius flavolineatus'' ( Boettger, 1885) – Boettger's sipo *'' Chironius flavopictus'' *'' Chironius foveatus'' Bailey, 1955 *'' Chironius fuscus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – brown sipo *''

Chironius gouveai ''Chironius gouveai'', Gouvea's sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South ...

'' Entiauspe-Neto, Lúcio-Lyra, Koch, Marques-Quintela, Diesel-Abegg, & Loebmann, 2020 – Gouvea's sipo *'' Chironius grandisquamis'' ( W. Peters, 1869) – Ecuador sipo *''

Chironius laevicollis ''Chironius laevicollis'', the Brazilian sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in bo ...

'' (Wied, 1824) – Brazilian sipo *'' Chironius laurenti''

Dixon Dixon may refer to: Places International * Dixon Entrance, part of the Inside Passage between Alaska and British Columbia Canada * Dixon, Ontario United States * Dixon, California * Dixon, Illinois * Dixon, Greene County, Indiana * Dixon, Indi ...

, Wiest &

Cei CEI may refer to: Companies and organizations * Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think-tank * Council of Engineering Institutions, later the Engineering Council * Cycle Engineers' Institute, a screw thread pattern, see British Stand ...

, 1993 *'' Chironius leucometapus'' *'' Chironius maculoventris'' *'' Chironius monticola'' Roze, 1952 – mountain sipo *'' Chironius multiventris'' Schmidt &

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

, 1943 – long-tailed machete savane *'' Chironius quadricarinatus'' ( F. Boie, 1827) *'' Chironius scurrulus'' ( Wagler, 1824) – smooth machete savane *''

Chironius septentrionalis ''Chironius septentrionalis'', the South American sipo, is a species of nonvenomous 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 la ...

'' Dixon, Wiest & Cei, 1993 *'' Chironius spixii'' *''

Chironius vincenti The Saint Vincent blacksnake (''Chironius vincenti''), also commonly known as the Saint Vincent coachwhip, the San Vincent racer, and Vincent's sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. Geographic range ''C. vincenti'' is endemic to ...

'' ( Boulenger, 1891) – St. Vincent blacksnake ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atte ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Chironius''.

Etymology

The specific names, ''brazili'' and ''spixii'', are in honor of Brazilian

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...

Vital Brazil Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha, known as Vital Brazil (; April 28, 1865 – May 8, 1950), was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and immunologist, known for the discovery of the polyvalent anti-ophidic serum used to treat bites of v ...

and German biologist

Johann Baptist von Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute ...

, respectively.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Chironius brazili'', p. 37; ''Chironius spixii'', p. 250).

Conservation status

The St. Vincent Blacksnake, ''

'' is listed as critically

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

due to its extremely limited range on the Island of St. Vincent.

Species

Etymology

Conservation status

References

Further reading