Xenodon guentheri explained

Xenodon guentheri, also known commonly as Günther's false fer-de-lance, is a species of snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Brazil.

Etymology

The specific name, guentheri, is in honor of German-British herpetologist Albert Günther.^[1]

Common names

X. guentheri is known by several common names in Brazilian Portuguese including boipeva, chata, cobra-chata, and jararaca-falsa.^[2]

Geographic range

X. guentheri is found in southern Brazil, in the Brazilian states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of X. guentheri is Araucaria angustifolia forest, at altitudes of .

Defensive Behavior

When threatened, X. guentheri may exhibit defensive behaviors including body flattening, tail display, head triangulation, and fleeing.^[3]

Reproduction

X. guentheri is oviparous.

Further reading

• 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. (Xenodon guentheri, new species, pp. 147–148 + Plate VII, figure 1, two views).
• Eiselt J (1963). "Zur Kenntnis der colubriden Schlangengattungen Procteria und Xenodon [= On the knowledge of the colubrid snake genera ''Procteria'' and ''Xenodon'' ]". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 66: 279–282. (in German).
• Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. . (Xenodon guentheri, p. 113).
• Peters JA, Orejas-Miranda B (1970). "Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata. Part 1. Snakes". Bulletin of the United States National Museum (297): 1–347. (Xenodon guentheri, p. 323).

Notes and References

1. [species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]
2. [species:Rodrigo Castellari Gonzalez|Gonzalez RC]
3. Abegg AD, Ceron K, Lhanos FH (2018). "Xenodon guentheri (Günther's False Fer-de-lance). Defensive Behavior". Herpetological Review 49 (1): 141–142.