Synophis Peracca, 1896

Pyron, R. Alexander, Guayasamin, Juan M., Penafiel, Nicolas, Bustamante, Lucas & Arteaga, Alejandro, 2015, Systematics of Nothopsini (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), with a new species of Synophis from the Pacific Andean slopes of southwestern Ecuador, ZooKeys 541, pp. 109-147 : 120

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Colubridae

Genus Synophis Peracca, 1896

Synophis bicolor Peracca, 1896 (type species by monotypy)

Synophis calamitus Hillis, 1990

Synophis lasallei ( Nicéforo-Maria, 1950)

Synophis plectovertebralis Sheil & Grant, 2001

Synophis zaheri Pyron, Guayasamin, Peñafiel, Bustamante, & Arteaga, 2015

Etymology.

None given by Peracca (1896); presumably from the Greek syn- for “with” or “together” and ophis for “snake,” though the intended meaning of "with snake" is unclear.

Description.

Relatively small-sized (~300mm SVL) dipsadine snakes of the Andes and Chocó of Colombia and Ecuador, with 16-27 maxillary teeth, 7-11 infralabials, 7-9 supralabials, fused prefrontals, loreal present, 1 or 2 postoculars, 144-184 ventrals, 88-138 subcaudals, dorsal scales in (19 –21)-(17–21)-(17– 20) rows, neural spine expanded and flattened, laterally expanded zygapophyses, and hemipenes slightly bilobed, semicalyculate, and semicapitate, relatively stout and bulbous, covered in large spines or hooks.

Notes.

On the basis of similar scale counts, but apparently without examining specimens, Amaral (1929) considered the holotype of Synophis bicolor (at the time, the only known specimen from the only known species) to be synonymous with Diaphorolepis wagneri . These snakes are extremely rare, accounting for the paucity of knowledge and unclear species-boundaries. Numerous undescribed species from many new localities are known, and await description (pers. comm., T. Grant, E. Meneses-Pelayo, O. Torres-Carvajal, and J. Arredondo).