Nothopsini Cope, 1871

Pyron, R. Alexander, Guayasamin, Juan M., Penafiel, Nicolas, Bustamante, Lucas & Arteaga, Alejandro, 2015, Systematics of Nothopsini (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), with a new species of Synophis from the Pacific Andean slopes of southwestern Ecuador, ZooKeys 541, pp. 109-147 : 129

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Colubridae

Tribe Nothopsini Cope, 1871

Nothopsis Cope, 1871 (type genus by monotypy)

Nothopsis rugosus Cope, 1871

Nothopsis affinis Boulenger, 1895 (Holotype BMNH 1946.1.15.62, "Salidero, NW Ecuador, 350ft") [subjective junior synonym of Nothopsis rugosus fide Dunn & Dowling 1957]

Nothopsis torresi Taylor, 1951 (Holotype KU 28710, “’Morehead’ Finca, 5 miles southwest of Turrialba, Costa Rica") [subjective junior synonym of Nothopsis rugosus fide Dunn & Dowling 1957]

Holotype.

USNM 12427, type locality "Isthmus of Darien [Panama]"

Etymology.

From the Greek nothos for “bastard” and opsis for “appearance,” with Cope (1871) apparently referring to putative mimicry of Bothrops atrox .

Description.

A relatively small-sized (<350mm SVL) dipsadine snake, ranging in Central and South America from Honduras to Colombia and Ecuador, in lowland and middle-elevation rainforests, 250-900m, distinguishable from nearly all other similar or related snakes in the area by the rugose, granular nature of the dorsal scales, in particular lacking differentiation of the cephalic scales with the exception of well-defined internasals and poorly defined frontal and parietals, which are separated by rows of irregular, undifferentiated scales. Color pattern consists of irregular and poorly defined blotches of blackish or light, dark, and yellowish brown. With respect to the characters described here for diaphorolepidine species, Nothopsis rugosus typically exhibits 19-21 maxillary teeth, 9-13 supralabials, 11-16 infralabials, 149-162 ventrals, 81-112 subcaudals, dorsal scales in (24 –30)-(26–30)-(22– 26) rows, SVL of 151-320mm, and tail length of 61-133mm (see Dunn and Dowling 1957).

Notes.

This taxon has historically been divided up into as many as three species (see Dunn and Dowling 1957), though only a single species is currently recognized. There may be cryptic variation or undiscovered diversity within this group. Note that the family name was originally spelled Nothopidae by Cope (1871), but –ops– is the correct stem from -opsis, and Nothopsidae (and Nothopsini ) is thus the correct spelling, as adopted by later authors.