Manolepis

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Infraordo: Caenophidia
Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Xenodontinae
Genus: Manolepis
Species: Manolepis putnami
Name

Manolepis
Vernacular names
English: Ridgehead Snake

The ridgehead snake (Manolepis putnami) is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to southeastern Mexico.

Etymology

The specific name, putnami, is in honor of American anthropologist Frederic Ward Putnam.[4]
Taxonomy

M. putnami is the type species of the monotypic genus Manolepis.[2]
Geographic range

M. putnami is found in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Oaxaca.[2]

Habitat

The natural habitat of M. putnami is forest.[1]

Description

M. putnami may attain a total length of 55 cm (22 in), including a tail 14 cm (5.5 in) long. Dorsally, it is pale brown or yellowish, with a brown, darker-edged vertebral stripe three scales wide. Ventrally it is whitish, speckled with brown. The dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, and in 19 rows at midbody. The anal plate is divided, and the subcaudals are in two rows.[3]

M. putnami is rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous). It has 15 small, equal maxillary teeth, followed, after a space, by two enlarged grooved fangs. The anterior mandibular teeth are much longer than the posterior.[3]

References

Ponce-Campos, P.; García Aguayo, A. (2007). "Manolepis putnami". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T63843A12721371. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63843A12721371.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
Species Manolepis putnami at The Reptile Database . www.reptile-database.org.
Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus Manolepis p. 120; species Manolepis putnami, new combination, p. 120).

Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Monolepis putnami, p. 213).