Shaw's dark ground snake (Erythrolamprus melanotus), also known commonly as Shaw's black-backed snake, and in Spanish as candelilla, guarda caminos, and reinita cazadora, is a species of snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to northern South America.
Etymology The English common names for Erythrolamprus melanotus refer to English biologist George Kearsley Shaw, who described and named this snake as a species new to science in 1802.Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Liophis melanotus, p. 241).
Classification Erythrolamprus melanotus belongs to the genus Erythrolamprus, which contains over 50 species. The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae. The relationships of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America (Venezuela) can be shown in the cladogram below, based on molecular DNA analysis:
Description Erythrolamprus melanotus grows to a total length (tail included) of .
Dorsally, it has a light yellow or pinkish color, with a wide, dark vertebral stripe, which is bordered on each side by a thin whitish stripe, followed by a thin dark stripe. The top of the head is olive, and there is a dark stripe passing through the eye. The upper labials and the venter (underside) of the snake are whitish.Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) xi + 382 pp. + Plates I–XX. (Liophis melanotus, p. 134).
The dorsal scales are smooth, with apical pits, and are arranged in 17 rows at midbody.
Behavior and diet Erythrolamprus melanotus is diurnal, hunting during the day along the forest floor, where it feeds on spectacled lizards in the genus Bachia, the rain frog Pristimantis urichi, the puddle frog Engystomops pustulosus, the gecko Gonatodes vittatus, and various unidentified fish.
Reproduction Erythrolamprus melanotus is oviparous.
Geographic range The geographic distribution of Erythrolamprus melanotus includes Colombia, Venezuela,Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. . (Dromicus melanotus, p. 95). and Trinidad and Tobago. It is probably extirpated from Grenada. (Liophis melanotus).
Habitat The preferred natural habitats of Erythrolamprus melanotus are freshwater wetlands, forest, and savanna, at altitudes up to .
References
Further reading Dixon, James R., Michaud, Edward J. (1992). "Shaw's black-backed snake (Liophis melanotus) (Serpentes: Colubridae) of Northern South America". Journal of Herpetology 26 (3): 250–259. (Liophis melanotus lamari and Liophis melanotus nesos, new subspecies). Grazziotin FG, Zaher H, Murphy RW, Scrocchi G, Benavides MA, Zhang Y-P, Bonatto SL (2012). "Molecular phylogeny of the New World Dipsadidae (Serpentes: Colubroidea): a reappraisal". Cladistics 28 (5): 437–459. (Erythrolamprus melanotus, new combination, p. 457). Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). A Check-List of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (Dromicus melanotus, p. 182). Shaw G (1802). General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History, Vol. III., Part II. London: G. Kearsley. vii + pp. 313–615. (Coluber melanotus, new species, p. 534).