Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 347-348 (2020) (published online on 23 April 2020)

A new geographic distribution record for Leptodeira rubricata Cope, 1893 (: Dipsadidae): Península, Guanacaste,

Edna De la Llata Quiroga1,*, Elpis J. Chávez2, Randall Arauz3, and Juan G. Abarca4

The Neotropical Leptodeira Fitzinger taken with a DSRL, Nikon D3200, was deposited in the 1843, currently includes 15 recognized species Biodiversity Collections, The University of Texas at commonly known as cat-eyed (Barrio-Amorós, Austin (TNHC 114179). No previous records exist of the 2019). Of the four species reported for Costa Rica, the ocurrence of this species in the province of Guanacaste; mangrove cat-eyed snake Leptodeira rubricata (Cope, the nearest report consisted of an iNaturalist observation 1893) is easily recognizable from its congeners in Costa in the mouth of the Tarcoles river, province Rica (L. nigrofasciata, L. ornata and L. rhombifera) by (9.7811 °N, 84.6317 °W) (GBIF, 2019), located 70 km its typical reddish colouration, with 57-67 dark brown to nearly black dorsal bands (Leenders, 2019). Leptodeira rubricata is primarily nocturnal and commonly occurs in mangrove swamps, as it feeds primarily on fish and crabs that it catches from the mangrove branches during the high tide (Solórzano, 2004). This species is known to occur from the Central Pacific mangrove forest in Costa Rica to the western extreme of Panamá (Savage, 2002; Wallach et al., 2014; Leenders, 2019). On 31 October 2019, at 16:30 h, during a fieldtrip, a specimen of Leptodeira rubricata was spotted by one of us (ELLQ) while it was on a 3 m high branch of a tea mangrove tree (Pelliciera rhizophorae), next to the water during the high tide in the Coyote estuary, Bejuco, , Guanacaste (9.7831°N, 85.2639°W; WGS 84) (Fig. 1A). A photograph of the specimen (Fig. 1B),

1 Instituto Internacional en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica, campus Omar Dengo, , Costa Rica. 2 CREMA, Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas, Provincia de Guanacaste, San Francisco de Coyote, Costa Rica. 3 Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation, 19675 Still Glen Way, Colorado Springs, USA. 4 Laboratorio de Recursos Naturales y Vida Silvestre, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Figure 1. A) Distribution of Leptodeira rubricata. B) Costa Rica. Leptodeira rubricata (TNHC 114179) in the Coyote estuary, * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. 348 Edna De la Llata Quiroga et al. east in a straight line from the Coyote Estuary. With this observation, the known distribution of the species extends from the Darién region in Panama, near the border with Colombia to the in Costa Rica (Fig. 1A). This new record for Leptodeira rubricata could motivate further studies in this region, which lacks current herpetofauna inventories.

Acknowledgments. We thank Travis J. La Duc for providing the photo voucher number and to fisher Amado Quiros for their help in our research activities.

References

Barrio-Amorós, C.L. (2019): On the of snakes in the genus Leptodeira, with an emphasis on Costa Rican species. IRCF & Amphibians 26: 1–15. Cope, E.D. (1893): Second addition to the knowledge of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 31: 333–347. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (2019): Leptodeira rubricata (Cope, 1893). Collected in Costa Rica. Available at: https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1836699351. Last accessed on 27 February 2020. Leenders, T. (2019): Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Field Guide, 1st edition. Ithaca, London, Cornell University Press. Savage, J.M. (2002): The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A herpetofauna between two continents, between two seas. Chicago, Illinois, USA, The University of Chicago Press. Solórzano, A. (2004): Serpientes de Costa Rica: distribución, taxonomía e historia natural, 1st edition. Santo Domingo de Heredia, Costa Rica, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. Wallach, V., Williams, K.L., Boundy, J. (2014): Snakes of the world: a catalogue of living and extinct species. First Edition. Boca Raton, Florida, USA, CRC press.

Accepted by Rodrigo Gonzalez