The snake, Erythrolamprus darwinnunezi sp. nov. was found on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains of Ecuador in the Tropical Andes.
Researchers Omar Torres-Carvajal, Katherin C. Hinojosa, Diego A. Paucar of Pontificia Universidad Católica Del Ecuador have discovered a new species of snake of the genus Erythrolamprus.
The snake, Erythrolamprus darwinnunezi sp. nov. was found on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains of Ecuador in the Tropical Andes. While it shares a similar morphology and color patterns of E. fraseri and E. lamonae,the researchers write, it differs in dorsal and ventral color patterning, as well as scale count and hemipenial morphology.
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The adult female holotype measured 374mm SVL and features an olive-green tail, head and body with some yellow body scales, faint dark transverse stripes, a yellow neck ring, and a yellowish cream ventral background body and tail. The snake can found found in the Amazonian slopes of the Andes mountains at elevations between 2,000–2,547 m above sea level. They are known to occur within the Andean Shrub and Eastern Montane Forest ecosystems, the researchers wrote. They were found during daylight times under leaf litter and under a plastic sheet, on the ground in forests and pasture. When captured, one specimen flattened its neck in a defensive posture while another regurgitated a frog that it had consumed.
It was named after Ecuadorian herpetologist Darwin Núñez, who has contributed to the science and conservation of Ecuador’s herpetofauna.
The complete paper describing the species, “A New Species of Erythrolamprus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from the Andes of Ecuador” can be read on the BioOne website.
