Synophis insulomontanus explained

Synophis insulomontanus, known commonly as the mountain shadow snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to northwestern South America.

Geographic range

S. insulomontanus is found in Huánuco Region, Peru.

Habitat

The preferred habitat of S. insulomontanus is forests on the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in northern and central Peru at elevations of approximately 1100-.

Behavior

A nocturnal, terrestrial, and semiarboreal species, S. insulomontanus has been found foraging on the forest floor in leaf litter, and coiled in bromeliads 1m (03feet) above the ground.^[1]

Diet

The diet of S. insulomontanus is unknown. Despite the allusion to fishing in one of its common names, there is no evidence that the species eats fish.^[2]

Further reading

• Torres-Carvajal, Omar; Echevarría, Lourdes; Venegas, Pablo Javier; Chávez, Germán; Camper, Jeffrey (2015). "Description and phylogeny of three new species of Synophis (Colubridae, Dipsadinae) from the tropical Andes in Ecuador and Peru". ZooKeys 546: 153–179. (Synophis insulomontanus, new species). (in English, with an abstract in Spanish).

Notes and References

1. Torres-Carvajal et al. (2015).
2. Pyron, R. Alexander; Arteaga, Alejandro; Echevarría, Lourdes Y.; Torres-Carvajal, Omar (2016). "A revision and key for the tribe Diaphorolepidini (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) and checklist for the genus Synophis ". Zootaxa 4171 (2): 293-320.