Blunt-headed Tree Snake, Imantodes cenchoa (Family Dipsidadae)

Coluber cenchoa Linnaeus, 1758:226. Type locality: America.

Himantodes cenchoa: Reinhardt and Lutken, 1862: 12.

Dipsas cenchoa: Garman, 1887c:258.

Imantodes cenchoa cenchoa: Smith, 1942:384.

lmantodes c. cenchoa: DeVerteuil, 1968:103.

Size: 1050 mm SVL, tail 450 mm; tail is about 43% of the body length. A very slender brown and tan snake, with smooth dorsal scales in 17 rows; the vertebral row is enlarged. The head is blunt; the eyes are huge, with a vertical pupil. The 17 dorsal scale rows, large eyes, and the presence of a mental groove will distinguish it from Dipsas trinitatis, the species that it will most easily be confused with. Rostral barely visible from above; nasal divided; loreal small; preocular single; two or three postoculars; seven to nine upper labials; 9−11 lower labials; ventrals 234−258; cloacal plate divided; 150−174 paired subcaudals. A widespread species, ranging from Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia; it is present on both Trinidad and Tobago. This is a highly arboreal snake of the forest canopy and understory. Nocturnal.