SNAKE OF THE GENUS TROPIDOPHIS 



85 



Table 2 Variation in proportions of snakes of the genus Tropidophis. 





Max 



SVL(mm) 



Eye diameter/ 



Head width/ 







Species 



males 



females 



head width 



neck width 



Sample size 1 



References 2 



T. battersbyi 



na 3 



na 



na 



na 



1 



1 



T. bucculentus 



360 



596 



0.19-0.24(2) 



1.50-1.55(2) 



4 



2-5 



T. canus 



363 



338 



na 



na 



20 



2,6 



T. caymanensis 



470 



438 



0.26(1) 



1.59(1) 



13 



2-3. 7 



T. celiac 



na 



344 



0.28(1) 



1.31(1) 



1 



8 



T. curtus 



357 



354 



0.25(1) 



1 .35 ( 1 ) 



93 



2-3, 6 



T. feicki 



411 



448 



0.28-0.32 (4) 



1 .76-2.24 (4) 



29 



2-3.9 



T. fitscus 



287 



304 



.30-.33 (2) 



1.83-1.99(2) 



8 



10-11 



T. galacelidus 



187 



405 



0.28 ( 1 ) 



1.45(1) 



6 



2-3.6, 12 



T. greenwayi 



313 



301 



0.23 ( 1 ) 



1.35(1) 



16 



2-3.6 



T. haetianus 



534 



552 



0.22-0.25 (8) 



1.28-1.52(8) 



158 



2-3,6, 13 



T. hardyi 



303 



334 



0.26-0.31 (2) 



1.30-1.49(2) 



8 



2-3.6, 12 



T. hendersoni 



302 



315 



0.28 ( 1 ) 



1.45(1) 



1 



14 



T. jamaicensis 



338 



306 



0.20-0.21 (3) 



1.47-1.54(3) 



23 



2-3,6 



T. maculatus 



327 



347 



0.23-0.32 (5) 



1.30-1.92(5) 



25 



2-3,6 



T. melanurus 



770 



957 



0.21-0.26(8) 



1.28-1.77(8) 



100 



2-3, 15 



T. morenoi 



na 



295 



0.24-0.27 (2) 



1.39-1.52(2) 



2 



16 



T. nigriventris 



184 



227 



na 



na 



4 



2.6. 12 



T. pardalis 



264 



287 



0.24-0.27 (4) 



1.26-1.63(4) 



161 



2-3.6 



T. parkeri 



422 



512 



0.24 ( 1 ) 



1.95(1) 



21 



2-3, 7 



T. paucisquamis 



101 



283 



0.24-0.28 (3) 



1.53-1.71 (3) 



3 



2-3 



T. pilsbryi 



295 



260 



.24-.25 (2) 



1.59-1.62(2) 



8 



2-3,6, 10 



T. schwartzi 



385 



321 



na 



na 



17 



2-3. 7 



T. semicinctus 



383 



408 



0.30-0.34(2) 



1.70-1.88(2) 



26 



2-3,9 



T. spiritus 



320 



372 



0.24-0.37 (4) 



1.35(1) 



4 



17 



T. stejnegeri 



395 



529 



0.22-0.28(3) 



1.39-1.48(3) 



23 



2-3.6 



T. stullae 



260 



248 



0.23-0.25(3) 



1.78-1.86(3) 



4 



2-3.6 



T. taczcmowskyi 



305 4 



243 



0.27-0.30 (2) 



1.46-1.51 (2) 



3 



3, 10, 18 



T. wrighti 



330 



323 



0.32-0.34 (7) 



1.77-2.24(7) 



17 



2-3,9 



'number of specimens used for most measurements and counts, unless otherwise indicated in parentheses. 



: primary sources of the data reported in this and other tables: I (Laurent, 1949). 2 (Albert Schwartz, unpublished data). 3 (S. B. Hedges, unpublished data), 4 (Thomas. 1966). 5 



(Bailey, 1937), 6 (Schwartz & Marsh. I960). 7 (Thomas, 1963), 8 (Hedges el ui, 1999). 9 (Schwartz. 1957). 10 (Hedges & Garrido. 1992). 1 I (Ansel Fong. unpublished data), 



12 (Schwartz & Garrido, 1975). 13 (Schwartz. 1975). 14 (Hedges & Garrido. 2002). 15 (Schwartz & Thomas. I960). 16 (Hedges et al., 2001), 1 7 ( Hedges & Garrido. 1999), 18 



(Stull, 1928). 



'data not available 



4 sex not determined 



diagnostic in some comparisons (Hedges & Garrido, 2002). but 

 problems arise in how different people score the character (e.g., 

 when an interparietal is present and scales barely touch). As already 

 noted, the keeling of the dorsal scales is often variable within 

 species. Many species have weakly keeled scales that are noticeable 

 only above the vent region and are difficult to score consistently, and 

 depend sometimes on condition of preservation. However, some 

 species consistently have smooth scales and others (e.g., T. 

 melanurus) have distinctly keeled scales. 



Colour and pattern variation (Table 4) has been important in 

 Tropidophis taxonomy, in part because the snakes are frequently 

 spotted and this provides yet additional characters to count. In fact. 

 Schwartz and Marsh ( 1960) considered coloration and pattern to be 

 the most reliable characters, in combination with scalation, for 

 'separating and combining' taxa. Except for T. feicki, which has 

 crossbands, most species have 2-12 rows of body spots. I have used 

 the Schwartz and Marsh (1960) methods of scoring body spots and 

 spot rows. Spot rows include those on the dorsum and venter, all 

 around the body (both sides) whereas body spots are counted along 

 one row of spots (usually just to one side of middorsal region) from 

 behind the head to just above the vent. Typically, the largest and 

 most distinctive spots are those near the middorsal region. This 

 reaches an extreme in species of the melanurus group where some 

 individuals have only those two spot rows present, resulting in 

 widely varying row counts (e.g., 2-10). Occipital spots sometimes 

 fused to form a white neckband, are diagnostic of several species 

 (e.g., T. celiae, T. galacelidus, T. pilsbryi, T. stejnegeri) and are 



common in others (e.g., T. pardalis). 



The dorsal ground colour of most species is a shade of brown or 

 grey, and often variable within species. I once collected two speci- 

 mens of T. pilsbryi in the same rock pile in Cuba, and was initially 

 misled into thinking they were different species because one was 

 brown and the other grey. On the other hand, T. stullae is consist- 

 ently pale tan and differs from the other two Jamaican species, which 

 are darker. Also, two boldly spotted species that occur sympatrically 

 in western Cuba can be distinguished by, among other things, their 

 dorsal ground colour: greyish pink in T. feicki and yellow to orange 

 in T. semicinctus. Although most species are spotted, those in the 

 melanurus group often have narrow lateral stripes as well as a 

 middorsal stripe. The absence of middorsal spot contact occurs in 

 two related species, T. maculatus and T. semicinctus, and the two 

 Bahaman species T. canus and T. curtus are united by the presence 

 of an anteriolateral (face and neck) stripe. Ventral pattern is diagnos- 

 tic for T. nigriventris (almost completely dark) and in several species 

 that lack a ventral pattern, but otherwise most have different degrees 

 of spotting and flecking. 



Species boundaries 



Most taxonomists discern the presence of sympatric species by 

 covanation of multiple characters from individuals of a single 

 locality, indicating lack of gene flow between the species. For 

 example, in a series of dark and pale snakes found together, two 

 species would be indicated if all of the dark snakes also had small 



