3 



Checklist of Argentinian snakes 



1- Species erroneously reported from Argentina 



Previous authors have mentioned a group of species from Argentina that are not now present in this country 

 or whose presence has not been confirmed by voucher specimens. Some of these species were already 

 eHminated by Cei (1993). The reasons to ehminate definitely these species from Argentina fauna are: 



Family Leptoptyphlopidae 



Leptotyphlops albifrons (Wagler, 1824): Mentioned from Argentina by Burmeister (1861) and included in 

 subsequent lists. Cei (1993) doubted its existence in the country. Hoogmoed & Gruber (1983) revised the 

 species and concluded that Leptotyphlops tenella frequently mentioned in many areas of South America is its 

 junior synonym. Leptotyphlops albifrons is distributed in the Amazonian basin and the Guyanas. Based on 

 this information and the absence of voucher specimens from Argentina we doubt that L. albifrons occurs in 

 Argentina. 



Family Boidae 



Boa constrictor constrictor Linnaeus, 1758: Included in Argentina by Burmeister (1861) and Boulenger 

 (1893). Koslowsky (1898) mentioned Boa constrictor without any reference to subspecies, saying 

 "vulgarmente Uamada lampalagua vive en las provincias de Corrientes, Entre Rios, Santa Fe y en los 

 territorios de Misiones and Gran Chaco." Without any doubt, Koslowsky is referring to Boa constrictor 

 occidentalis that has a wide distribution in Argentina. His mention of Misiones is probably based on 

 Burmeister and Boulenger 's data. 



Berg (1898) and Serie (1921) pointed out Koslowsky 's statment as a mistake, but Serie included the species 

 in his list of 1936 apparently based on a reference from Amaral. Subsequent authors mentioned the 

 subespecies in Misiones, although the taxon that inhabits south and southeast Brazil and southeast Bolivia is 

 Boa constrictor amaral i. 



As there are no voucher specimens of Boa constrictor constrictor or Boa constrictor amarali from 

 Argentina, we consider that they are not present in the country. Cei (1993) said that Boa c. constrictor needs 

 to be confirmed in the country, and Henderson et al. (1995), in a recent review, do not include Misiones in 

 the species' distribution. 



Eunectes miirinus (Linnaeus 1758): reported from Argentina based on an individual from Oran, Salta, housed 

 at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Salta and mentioned for the first time by Correa & Pautassi (1986). 

 We examined the specimen; it is correctly identified as E. murinus. Keeping in mind that this easily 

 observable species has not been recorded again since the capture of this specimen, we consider that it should 

 not be included in the Argentinian list. Cei (1993) also reached the same conclusion. The nearest locality for 

 E. murinus is in northern Bolivia and it is separated from Argentina by the Paraguay River basin where E. 

 notaeus occur. 



Family Colubridae 



Atractus badius (Boie, 1827): although cited in Argentina based on an individual from Las Palmas, Chaco, 

 the specimen is actually Atractus snethlageae Cunha & Nascimento, 1983. It was misidentified by Serie 

 (1915) and the error repeated by later authors. See comments under Atractus snetlilegeae. 



Liophis typhlus (Linnaeus, 1758): Koslowsky (1898) and Serie (1936) mentioned this taxon from Misiones, 

 Corrientes, Chaco and Salta. Later, it was cited from northern Argentina by Miranda & Couturier ( 1984) and 

 from Misiones by Stetson (1995). The material used in the more recent studies is Liophis poecilogyrus 

 (Giraudo 1997), a species with highly variable color patterns, including olive green with or without dots. 

 Dixon (1989) did not include Liophis typhlus in Argentina. We agree with his concept. 



Pseustes sexcarinatus (Wagler, 1824): The first references to this taxon in Argentina are from Koslowsky 

 (1898) and Serie (1921 and 1936), as Herpetodryas sexcarinatus. Hoge (1964) explained that any reference 

 after Wagler is not actually Pseustes sexcarinatus and that the species inhabits the i'ara State in Brazil. 

 However, Peters & Orejas Miranda (1970), Abalos & Mischis (1975), Williams & Francini (1991) and Cei 



