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Sazima’s Gastropod-eating
Snake, Dipsas
sazimai.
Photo
credit. João L. Gasparini
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The Neotropical snake genus Dipsas (Family Dipsididae) contains about 35 known species with
exceptionally gracile bodies and large heads. The majority of species with
known diets feed on gastropods, slugs and snails. The snakes hunt for their
soft bodied prey on the ground and in shrubs and trees, and their light weight
bodies make it possible for the snakes to use exceptionally slender branches to
support their weight. Daniel Fernandes and colleagues have now described Dipsas sazimai from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. A species in the Dipsas incerta Group that is
distinguished from all congeners a combination of patterns and scale counts. The species is named in honor of Ivan Sazima
for his contributions to Brazilian herpetology. Dispas sazimai inhabits
Brazil’s Atlantic Forest from the state
of Alagoas to north of São Paulo from sea level to about 700 m. Sazima’s Dipsas inhabits dense umbrophilous
forests and the sample the authors had suggest it is the rarest
species of Dipsas in the Atlantic Forest.
Citation
Fernandes, D. S., O. A. V. Marques, and A. J. S. Argolo.
2010. A new species of Dipsas
Laurenti from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (Serpentes: Dipsadidae). Zootaxa
2691:57-66.
Labels: Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Dipsas, new species