''Dipsas'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of non

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

s in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Dipsadinae Dipsadinae is a large subfamily of colubroid snakes, sometimes referred to as a family (Dipsadidae). Species of the subfamily Dipsadinae are found in most of the Americas, including the West Indies, and are most diverse in South America. There a ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from , 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest fossil species of the family date back to the Late Eocene epoch, with earlier origins suspected. C ...

. The genus ''Sibynomorphus'' has been moved here. Species of the genus ''Dipsas'' are known as snail-eaters.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Dipsas'' includes over 30 distinct

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. The following species are recognized as being valid. *''

Dipsas albifrons ''Dipsas albifrons'', Sauvage's snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area ...

'' – Sauvage's snail-eater *''

Dipsas alternans ''Dipsas alternans'', Jan's snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fi ...

'' – Jan's snail-eater *''

Dipsas andiana ''Dipsas andiana'' is a non-venomous snake found in Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on t ...

'' *''

Dipsas aparatiritos ''Dipsas aparatiritos'' is a non-venomous snake found in Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the w ...

'' *''

Dipsas articulata ''Dipsas articulata'', commonly known as the American snail-eater, is a non-venomous species of snake found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Common names ''D. articulata'' is known by a few names including the American snail-eater, but als ...

'' – American snail-eater *''

Dipsas baliomelas ''Dipsas baliomelas'' is a non-venomous snake found in Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombi ...

'' *''

Dipsas bicolor ''Dipsas bicolor'', the two-colored snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, th ...

'' – two-colored snail-eater *'' Dipsas bobridgelyi'' – Bob Ridgely's snail-eater *'' Dipsas bothropoides'' *''

Dipsas brevifacies ''Dipsas brevifacies'', the snail-eating thirst snake or short-faced snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Its length for male is approximately 373 mm and for female 357 mm, (minimum 131 mm). T ...

'' – snail-eating thirst snake, short-faced snail-eater *'' Dipsas bucephala'' – neotropical snail-eater *''

Dipsas catesbyi Catesby's snail-eater (''Dipsas catesbyi''), also Common name, commonly known as Catesby's snail sucker, is a Nocturnality, nocturnal species of nonvenomous snake in the Family (biology), family Colubridae. The species is native to northern South ...

'' – Catesby's snail-eater *'' Dipsas chaparensis'' *'' Dipsas cisticeps'' – neotropical snail-eater *'' Dipsas copei'' *'' Dipsas elegans'' *'' Dipsas ellipsifera'' *''

Dipsas gaigeae ''Dipsas gaigeae'', also known commonly as Gaige's thirst snail-eater, Gaige's thirst snake, and ''zicatlinán'' in Mexican Spanish, is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Mexico. Etymology The s ...

'' – Gaige's thirst snail-eater, Gaige's thirst snake, ''zicatlinán'' *'' Dipsas georgejetti'' – George Jett's snail-eater *'' Dipsas gracilis'' – graceful snail-eater *''

Dipsas incerta ''Dipsas incerta'', Jan's snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in French Guiana, Suriname, Guiana, and Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of co ...

'' – Jan's snail-eater *''

Dipsas indica ''Dipsas indica'', also known as the neotropical snail-eater, is a snake species found in South America. It feeds on slugs and snails, which the snake can extract from their shells using its slender jaw. There are two subspecies In Taxono ...

'' – neotropical snail-eater *'' Dipsas jamespetersi'' Orcés & Almendáriz, 1989 *'' Dipsas klebbai'' – Klebba's snail-eate *'' Dipsas latifrontalis'' – broad-fronted snail-eater, Venezuela snail-eater *'' Dipsas lavillai'' Scrocchi,

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

& Rey, 1993 *''

Dipsas maxillaris ''Dipsas maxillaris'', Werner's thirst snake, is a non-venomous snake found in Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United Sta ...

'' – Werner's thirst snake *'' Dipsas mikanii'' ( Schlegel, 1837) *'' Dipsas neuwiedi'' ( Ihering, 1911) – Neuwied's tree snake *'' Dipsas nicholsi'' *'' Dipsas oligozonata'' Orcés & Almendáriz, 1989 *'' Dipsas oneilli'' Rossman &

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, 1979 – O'Neill's tree snake *'' Dipsas oreas'' – Ecuador snail-eater *'' Dipsas oswaldobaezi'' – Oswaldo Báez's snail-eater *'' Dipsas pakaraima'' *'' Dipsas palmeri'' – Palmer's snail-eater *''

Dipsas pavonina ''Dipsas pavonina'', the northern snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South A ...

'' – northern snail-eater *'' Dipsas peruana'' – Peruvian snail-eater, Peru snail-eater *'' Dipsas praeornata'' *'' Dipsas pratti'' – Pratt's snail-eater *'' Dipsas sanctijoannis'' – tropical snail-eater *'' Dipsas sazimai'' , , (2010). "A new species of ''Dipsas'' Laurenti from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (Serpentes: Dipsadidae)"
''Zootaxa''
2691: 57–66
Preview
/ref> *'' Dipsas schunkii'' – Schunk's snail-eater *'' Dipsas temporalis'' – temporal snail-eater *'' Dipsas tenuissima'' – Taylor's snail-eater *'' Dipsas trinitatis'' – Trinidad snail-eater *'' Dipsas turgida'' (Cope, 1868) – Bolivian tree snake *'' Dipsas vagrans'' (Dunn, 1923) – Dunn's tree snake *'' Dipsas vagus'' (Jan, 1863) – Jan's tree snake *''

Dipsas variegata ''Dipsas variegata'', the variegated snail-eater, is a snake found in South America. It is reported to feed almost exclusively on tree snails and slugs. '' Dipsas trinitatis'', the Trinidad snail-eater from Trinidad and Tobago, has sometimes bee ...

'' – variegated snail-eater *'' Dipsas ventrimaculata'' ( Boulenger, 1885) – Boulenger's tree snake *'' Dipsas vermiculata'' – vermiculate snail-eater *'' Dipsas viguieri'' – Bocourt's snail-eater *'' Dipsas welborni'' *'' Dipsas williamsi'' Carillo de Espinoza, 1974 – Williams's tree snake ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Dipsas''.

Description

''Dipsas'' species are slender, small to medium-sized snakes, often no longer than , and rarely longer than . Coloration and color pattern may vary, but often consist of black and brown, frequently with alternating rings separated by white.

Distribution and habitat

Species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the genus ''Dipsas'' are found from southern Mexico through Central America and South America, as far as Argentina and Paraguay.; (2009). "Morphological variation and systematics of ''Dipsas catesbyi'' (Sentzen, 1796) and ''Dipsas pavonina'' Schlegel, 1837 (Serpentes: Dipsadinae)"
''Zootaxa''
2203: 31-48
Abstract & excerpt
/ref>

Behavior and diet

Species in the genus ''Dipsas'' are mostly

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

snakes that mainly feed on

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s and

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less Terrestrial mollusc, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...

Taxonomy

Description

Distribution and habitat

Behavior and diet

References

Further reading