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I was thinking Alsophis but the more I look at it, the more I realise I have no idea...someone anyone?


This last pic is the one throwing me, havent seen anything with these stripes and chin color

If the pics diddnt show up there here
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test228.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test219.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test218.jpg

>>I was thinking Alsophis but the more I look at it, the more I realise I have no idea...someone anyone?
>>
>>
>>This last pic is the one throwing me, havent seen anything with these stripes and chin color
>>
>>If the pics diddnt show up there here
>>http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test228.jpg
>>http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test219.jpg
>>http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y264/DougW/test218.jpg

No idea. Nothing like this in any of the books on the snakes of the region. It does look rather Alsophis-like, but there are no Alsophis known from the Guyanas. Is there any possibility it may be an accidental introduction (i.e., caught in town, something like that)?

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

I caught it, in St Cuthberts Mission, Guyana. Its about 60 miles up the Mahaica River from the coast in the absolute middle of no where. Latitude 6.3667 Longitude -58.0833 will get you close but not exact. So, no real chance it was introduced... Lightning fast and non venomous. Found in pretty open Savannah land, not much around except sand and small bushes, we chased it around for a good 10 minutes from bush to bush trying to get it snagged up to photograph..The Amerindian locals there all thought it was a venomous species, so now they think I am nuts for catching it. ( I may be )

I can't find anything that even closely resembles it in any of the Guyana fauna lists online....

It is almost certainly a member of the genus Philodryas, but I couldn't say which species.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I thought philodryas bites tended to be nasty (as far as colubrids go)

It tagged me on the leg and got a pretty solid bite but I had no ill effects whatsoever.....just like a corn snake bite...

Hey Jarrrod, not all of the Philodryas have particularly bad bites some just cause itching and burning some such as baroni can cause swelling and petechial hemmorhages. Philodryas chamissonis can cause some hematological problems and hematomas and causes rather severe pain, the same goes for patagoniensis and viridissimus. However olfersii can cause systemic symptoms, especially in children and may require a trip to the Dr.
I would be very carefull with all of them

Finally figured it out its Philodryas natteri

It doesn't get up into the Guyana area. There are decent maps and picks of most species at www.philodryas.com.

The only species that seem likely based on those maps are P. cordata or P. oligolepis, but I can't find photos of those species.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

>>It doesn't get up into the Guyana area. There are decent maps and picks of most species at www.philodryas.com.
>>
>>The only species that seem likely based on those maps are P. cordata or P. oligolepis, but I can't find photos of those species.

P. oligolepis is green, like P. olfersii and P. viridissimus - these three are the only species of Philodryas previously recorded from the Guyanas. I have no idea what P. cordata looks like, and I guess it may well be found in the Guyanas as well...

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

Hey chrish, I agree with you, its probably not P. nattereri. This species is found in Brazilian cerrado and caatinga, not reaching the amazonian region. The philodryas.com is a nice site, but lot of their geographical data is quite wrong or deficient. My guess this snake is a Mastigodryas boddaerti.