''Chironius'' 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 ...

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: ...

colubrid 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. Colu ...

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, commonly called sipos (from the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

word ''cipó'' for

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

), savanes, or sometimes vine snakes. There are 23 described

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 this genus.

Species

The following 23 species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *''

Chironius bicarinatus ''Chironius bicarinatus'', the two-headed sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in Sout ...

'' ( Wied, 1820) – two-headed sipo *''

Chironius brazili ''Chironius brazili'' is a species of snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Brazil. Etymology The specific name, ''brazili'', is in honor of Brazilian herpetologist Vital Brazil. Beolens B, Watkin ...

'' *''

Chironius carinatus ''Chironius carinatus'', commonly known as the Amazon coachwhip, is a long and slender, nonvenomous colubrid snake. Geographic range It is endemic to the regions of Colombia, northern Brazil, Costa Rica, eastern Venezuela, northern Suriname, Guya ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) – Amazon coachwhip *''

Chironius challenger ''Chironius challenger'' is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Guyana and Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consist ...

'' Kok, 2010 *''

Chironius diamantina ''Chironius diamantina'' is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Brazil, in the state of Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, ...

'' *''

Chironius exoletus ''Chironius exoletus'' is a species of snake of the family Colubridae. It is commonly known as Linnaeus's sipo. Geographic range The snake is found in South America and Central America. References * Reptiles described in 1758 Taxa name ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Linnaeus's sipo *''

Chironius flavolineatus ''Chironius flavolineatus'', also known as Boettger's sipo, is a vine snake species in the family Colubridae, endemic to savannas and semiarboreal biomes in Brazil, and much of South America. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List sin ...

'' ( Boettger, 1885) – Boettger's sipo *''

Chironius flavopictus ''Chironius flavopictus'' is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered ...

'' *''

Chironius foveatus ''Chironius foveatus'', the South American or coastal sipo, is a semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018) species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae, found in Brazil. It primarily inhabits the southern and eastern coastal regions of th ...

'' Bailey, 1955 – South American sipo *''

Chironius fuscus The brown sipo (''Chironius fuscus'') is a species of snake of the family Colubridae. Geographic range The snake is found in South America and Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – brown sipo *''

Chironius gouveai ''Chironius gouveai'', Gouvea's sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, s ...

'' Entiauspe-Neto, Lúcio-Lyra,

Koch Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east In ...

, Marques-Quintela, Diesel-Abegg & Loebmann, 2020 – Gouvea's sipo *''

Chironius grandisquamis ''Chironius grandisquamis'', the Ecuador sipo, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia Colombia, officially the Re ...

'' ( W. Peters, 1869) – Ecuador sipo *'' Chironius laevicollis'' (Wied, 1824) – Brazilian sipo *''

Chironius laurenti ''Chironius laurenti'' is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Bolivia and Brazil. The species was named in honor of Raymond Laurent. Taxonomy ''C. laurenti'' belongs to the genus ''Chironius'' (com ...

'' Dixon, Wiest &

Cei CEI may refer to: Organizations * Central European Initiative, a forum of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe * Clean Energy Institute, a renewable energy research institute at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, ...

, 1993 *''

Chironius leucometapus ''Chironius leucometapus'', the yellow-headed sipo, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Ecuador and Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is b ...

'' – yellow-headed sipo *''

Chironius maculoventris ''Chironius maculoventris'', the central sipo, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the large ...

'' – central sipo *'' Chironius monticola''

Roze Roze may refer to: People *Janis Roze, herpetologist *Jean Roze, French textile producer *Pierre-Gustave Roze (1812–1862), French naval commander *, French mycologist; see Marasmiaceae *Magdalena Roze, Australian meteorologist *Marie Roze, French ...

, 1952 – mountain sipo *''

Chironius multiventris ''Chironius multiventris'', commonly known as the long-tailed machete savane, is species of colubrid snake. Geographic range It is found in Peru, northern Venezuela, Colombia in the Guainía and Trinidad and Tobago. Description The body is elon ...

Schmidt Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people and fictional characters with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian c ...

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

, 1943 – long-tailed machete savane *''

Chironius quadricarinatus ''Chironius quadricarinatus'', the central sipo, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked coun ...

'' (

F. Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University ...

, 1827) – central sipo *''

Chironius scurrulus ''Chironius scurrulus'', commonly known as the smooth machete savane, is a large slender colubrid snake. It is also known as Wagler's sipo. Geographic range It is found in tropical rainforests of the Brazilian Amazon, Southeastern Colombia, nor ...

'' ( Wagler, 1824) – Wagler's sipo, smooth machete savane *'' Chironius septentrionalis'' Dixon, Wiest & Cei, 1993 – South American sipo *''

Chironius spixii ''Chironius spixii'' is a species of nonvenomous snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to northwestern South America. Etymology The specific name, ''spixii'', is in honor of German biologist Johan ...

'' *'' Chironius vincenti'' (

Boulenger Boulenger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Benjamin Boulenger (born 1990), French footballer * Edward George Boulenger (1888–1946), British zoologist, director of aquarium at London Zoo * George Albert Boulenger (1858– ...

, 1891) – St. Vincent blacksnake ''

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 ''Chironius''.

Conservation status

The St. Vincent Blacksnake, '' Chironius vincenti'', is listed as critically

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

due to its extremely limited range on the Island of St. Vincent.

Species

Conservation status

References

Further reading