''Chironius multiventris'', commonly known as the long-tailed machete savane, is

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 the appropriate s ...

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 vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

Geographic range

It is found in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, northern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, Colombia in the Guainía and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

Description

The body is elongate, and strongly laterally compressed. The tail is long, as the common name implies. The dorsum is olive to light brown. There is a narrow whitish, black-edged, vertebral stripe. The upper labials and the ventrum are yellowish. The ventrals are 178–183, and the subcaudals are 172–202. (Both these counts are higher than in ''C. carinatus''.) The dorsal scales are arranged in 12 rows anteriorly and at midbody, in 10 rows posteriorly. (''C. carinatus'' has 8 rows posteriorly.) Adults may attain a total length of , with a tail long. Schmidt, K.P. and W.F. Walker. 1943. Peruvian snakes from the University of Arequipa. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Zoology 24(26):279-296.

Diet

''Chironius multiventris'' feeds on

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

Notes

References

multiventris Reptiles of Venezuela Reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago Taxa named by Karl Patterson Schmidt Reptiles described in 1943 Snakes of South America {{Colubrinae-stub