CATALOGUE OF THE NEOTROPICAL SQUAMATA PART I. SNAKES UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 297 Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata Part I. Snakes JAMES A. PETERS United States National Museum and BRAULIO OREJAS-MIRANDA Museum of Natural History Montevideo, Uruguay With the collaboration of Rol>erto Donoso-Barros Universidad de Concepcion Concepcion, Chile SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS City of Washington 1970 Publications of the United States National Museum The scientific publications of the United States Na- cation date of each paper recorded in the table of con- tional Museum include two series, Proceedings of the tents of tlie volume. United States National Miiseurn and United States In the Bulletin series, the first of which was issued in National Museum Bulletin. 1875, a;ppear longer, separate publications consisting of In these series are published original articles and monographs (occasionally in several parts) and vol- monoorraphs dealing with the collections and work of umes in which are collected works on related subjects. the Museum and setting forth newly acquired facts in Bulletins are either octavo or quarto in size, depending the fields of antliropology, biology, geology, history, on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902, papers re- and technology. Copies of eacli publication are dis- lating to the botanical collections of the Museum have tributed to libraries and scientific organizations and to si^ecialists and others interested in the various subjects. been published in the Bulletin series under the head- The Proceedings, begun in 1878, are intended for the ing Conti^ibxdions from the United States National publication, in .separate form, of shorter papers. These Herbarium. are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publi- This work forms number 297 of the Bulletin series. Frank A. Taylor Director, United States National Museum U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 19 70 For sale b.v the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington. D.C. 20402 - Price .$(j.7.'i per set of 2 volumes, sold in sets only f i a INTRODUCTION This catalogue represents an attempt to make Este catalogo representa un intento de posi- it possible for participants in International i i the bilitar la dent f i cac ion de serpientes encontra- Biological Program working in Latin America to das en el campo a los part ic pantes del identify the snakes encountered in the field. It International Biological Program que trabajan en was originally planned to include information on Sudamerica. Or ig I nar iamente se hab'a planeado la the ecology and ethology of the reptilian species, inclusion de informacion ecologica y etologica de to permit field investigators to distinguish the las especies de reptiles, para permitir al inves- unuEual ecological event from the commonplace tlgador de campana la distincion entre aconte- occurrence, but time has not permitted the inclu- cimientos ecologicos desusados y los que son lugar sion of that degree of detail. We have Instead comun, pero la falta de tiempo impidio la inclu- focussed our attentions on the construction of a slon de tal grado de detalles. En cambio hemos workable field manual with keys designed to help concentrado nuestra atencion en la elaboracion de identification without laboratory facilities. We un manual de campaRa funcional con claves disefia- not been have entirely i successful, because a few das para ayudar a la dent i f I cac i on sin las taxa cannot be separated without the use of a facilidades de un laboratorio. No hemos tenido dissecting microscope or the checking of internal exito en todo porque unos pocos taxones no pueden characteristics, but for the most part the keys can ser separados sin usar el microscopic de disecclon be used with little more than a hand lens for o sin examlnar las caracter'st icas Internas, pero specimen examination. en su mayor'a las claves se pueden usar con poco mas que un lente de aumento con que examlnar el e jemplar. The limits we have established for the area Los I'mites que hemos establecido para el covered by this work are from the border between area cubierta por este trabajo son desde la Mexico and Guatemala south throughout continental frontera entre Mejico y Guatemala hasta el extreme South America and all off-shore Islands within the sur de Sudaaerlca continental y todas las islas continental shelf. The Galapagos and the islands costeras dentro de la plataforma continental. Las of the Caribbean are not Included. Islas Galapagos y del Carlbe no han s i do incluidas. The Synonymies presented for the taxa are Los sinonlmos de los taxones presentados very abbreviated. Within each genus we include estan muy abrevlados. En cada genero se Incluyen only those generic synonyms whose type species are solamente aquellos sinonlmos generlcos cuya considered to belong to the genus under discussion. especie tipo es considerada como pertenec I ente al Only the original description for each genus Is genero en discuslon. Se Incluye solamente la included, with no attempt made to document changes descripclon original de cada genero, no hemos in the "generic concept". The type species, when intentado documentar cambios en el "concepto given, has always been previously designated as generico". Slempre que damos la especie tipo es such, unless we clearly Indicate that we are taking porque ha s I do designada como tal prevlamente, a such an action at this time. We apologize for our menos que indiquemos claramente que hemos tomado failure to indicate the method of type designation, aqu' tal medida. Lamentamos no poder indlcar el but time did not permit us to undertake this diffi- metodo de designacion de tipos, pero la falta de cult task. For each species we have included the tiempo no nos permlte emprender tal dif icll tarea. original citation to it, its first assignment to En cada especie hemos incluido su cita original, lis current generic position If other than as su prlmera asignaclon a la posicion generica originally assigned, all "absolute" synonyms (i.e., corriente si es que se le ha asignado otra dlstin- those in which the holotype, lectotype, or neotype ta que la original, todos los sinonlmos "absolutes!' belongs to the species in which the synonym (ej.: aquellos en que el holotipo o neotipo per- occurs), and, whenever possible, a citation to a tenece a la especie en que ocurre el sinonimo) y, recent work which includes a modern description cuando posible, una cita de un trabajo reciente and/or a figure, to aid the user in identification. que Incluye una descripclon moderna y/o una No other generic shifts, no m i s i dent i Icat I ons, figura, para ayudar al usuarlo en la Identlflca- and no "in part" references are included. The clon. No se incluye ninguna otra transf erenc i author's name is not separated in any way from the generica, i dent i f icac I on falsa o referencia binomial in the citations to original descriptions. "parcial". El nombre del autor no ha s I do separa- In all other citations, the author's name is do de ningun modo del binomio en las citas de las separated from the binomial by a dash. Each cita- descr pc i ones originales. En todas las otras i tion includes the actual date of publication; the cItas el nombre del autor esta separado del blno- name exactly as it was spelled by the original mio por un gulon. Cada cita incluye la fecha author. Including capitalization of specific names; efectlva de la publicacion; el nombre con la misma the author; the journal; the volume or the number, ortograf'a que uso autor, incluyendo nombres which stands alone If possible but which is quali- espec'flcos con mayijscula; el autor; la revista; fied by material In parentheses if necessary; the el volumen o el numero, por s' solos si es posible page on which the taxon is first named; illustra- o con material aclaratorio entre parentesis si es tions; and finally the type locality, with necesario; la pagina en que se nombra al taxon por summaries of any restrictions or later clarlflca- prlmera vez; i lustraci ones y, finalmente la tlons of it. localldad tipo con resumenes de cualquier restric- clon o aclaraclon posterior. i vi INTRODUCTION We have attempted to avoid any non-documented Hemos tratado de evitar en este catalogo taxonomic changes in this catalogue, although it todos los cambios taxonomicos que no estuvieran has proven necessary to make a few modifications documentados, si bien fue necesario hacer unas in some taxa. When we have made such changes, we pocas mod if icac i ones en algunos taxones. Cuando indicate it by the words "new combination" after se han hecho tales cambios lo indicamos con las the species heading, and we have given our reasons palabras "new combination" despues del titulo de for so doing in the "Comments". In those genera la especie y explicamos nuestra razones para el en prepared by cooperating herpetolog i sts, however, cambio en "Comments". Sin embargo aquellos we have not prevented the presentation of his con- generos preparados por nuestros colaboradores cepts of the alignment of species within the genus, herpetologos no hemos impedido la presentacion de even though documentation has not been published sus conceptos en el ordenamiento de las especies elsewhere. in every insta.nce we have ascertained dentro del genero, aun cuando no hubiera docu- that prompt publication of documentation is anti- mentacion previamente publicada. En cada caso cipated before including the changes, but we hemos solicitado la pronta publicacion de docu- cannot guarantee that it will be done. In all mentacion antes de introducir tales cambios, pero cases where material has been furnished by a no podemos garantizar que asi se haga.