Erythrolamprus epinephalus

Erythrolamprus epinephalus, the Fire-bellied snake, is a species of snake in the Colubridae family. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. The snake, which was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1862,^[2] is notable for its apparent immunity to the toxic skin of the golden poison dart frog, which it preys upon.^[3][4]

Fire-bellied snake
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Erythrolamprus
Species:	E. epinephalus
Binomial name
Erythrolamprus epinephalus (Cope, 1862)
Synonyms
Liophis epinephalus Cope, 1862 Leimadophis epinephelus Amaral, 1925

Classification

Erythrolamprus epinephalus 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.

Recent phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular DNA evidence has shown that Erythrolamprus epinephalus is now likely paraphyletic, with respect to Erythrolamprus pseudoreginae of Tobago, named in 2019.^[5]

The relationships of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America can be shown in the cladogram below:^[5]

	E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic)       E. ceii E. poecilogyrus (paraphyletic)
	E. miliaris E. miliaris             E. typhlus (Brazil) (paraphyletic)       E. reginae (paraphyletic)       E. reginae (paraphyletic) E. zweifeli E. breviceps Erythrolamprus epinephalus (Peru) (paraphyletic)             Erythrolamprus epinephalus (Costa Rica) (paraphyletic) E. pseudoreginae E. melanotus       E. atraventer       E. jaegeri E. almadensis       E. juliae E. cursor E. typhlus (French Guiana) (paraphyletic) E. cobella             E. aesculapii (Brazil) (paraphyletic) E. ocellatus E. aesculapii (French Guiana & Guyana) (paraphyletic)       E. bizona E. mimus

References

1. Batista, A.; García Rodríguez, A.; Saborío, G.; Vargas Álvarez, J.; Acosta Chaves, V.; Gutiérrez-Cárdenas, P.; Rivas, G.; Cisneros-Heredia, D.F.; Murphy, J. (2019). "Erythrolamprus epinephelus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T203547A137364454. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T203547A137364454.en. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
2. "Erythrolamprus epinephalus". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
3. Singh, Vivek. "The only natural predator of Golden Poison Dart Frog, world's one of the most toxic animals!". www.thefactandinfo.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
4. "Golden Poison Frog". National Geographic. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
5. Murphy, John C.; Braswell, Alvin L.; Charles, Stevland P.; Auguste, Renoir J.; Rivas, Gilson A.; Borzée, Amaël; Lehtinen, Richard M.; Jowers, Michael J. (15 Jan 2019). "A new species of Erythrolamprus from the oceanic island of Tobago (Squamata, Dipsadidae)". ZooKeys (817): 131–157. doi:10.3897/zookeys.817.30811.