Author: James Arthur Oliver

Publisher:

Published: 1948

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13:

"The genus Thalerophis Oliver is composed of six species; four of these are monotypic, one embraces two subspecies, and another contains 12 subspecies. All have the posteriormost maxillary teeth enlarged but not grooved; the hemipenis may or may not have enlarged basal spines; the dorsal scale formula is 15-15-11, and keels are present on the scales of at least two rows; the ventrals vary in number from 133 to 184 plates; the upper labials are eight or nine in number, with two shields in contact with the orbit; the loreal shield is present or absent; the oculars are one preocular and two postoculars; the temporals normally consist of one anterior and two posterior shields; and all have some green in the coloration, which in the adults is usually a uniform green or with dark longitudinal stripes, but one species has an adult color pattern of narrow, dark transverse bands. The genus occurs in the warm, relatively humid lowlands of the mainland of Latin America from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. The members of the genus are semi-arboreal or arboreal inhabitants of the forested areas: the tropical and subtropical rain forest, the tropical deciduous forest, and the scrub forests of the Neotropical realm. They are oviparous and feed principally on frogs of the family Hylidae. The genus is a part of the Old Northern colubrine stock that has entered Middle and South America from the north and has undergone subsequent evolution in these areas. It appears to be most closely related to the genera Drymobius and Dryadophis which are also inhabitants of the Neotropical region. Thalerophis probably originated in lower Central America from which region it has spread northward into upper Central America and southward into virtually all of the warm, humid, lowland, forest areas"--Page 273