Synophis

Synophis is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to northwestern South America.

Synophis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Synophis Peracca, 1896

Description

Snakes of the genus Synophis have unusual scalation on the top of the head. The internasal scales are very small, and the prefrontal scales are fused into one large plate.

Species

The genus Synophis contains the following nine species which are recognized as being valid.

• Synophis bicolor Peracca, 1896 - bicolored shadow snake, two-colored fishing snake
• Synophis bogerti Torres-Carvajal, Echevarría, Venegas, Chávez & Camper, 2015 - Bogert's shadow snake
• Synophis calamitus Hillis, 1990 - calamitous shadow snake
• Synophis insulomontanus Torres-Carvajal, Echevarría, Venegas, Chávez & Camper, 2015 - mountain shadow snake
• Synophis lasallei (Nicéforo-María, 1950) - La Salle's shadow snake
• Synophis niceforomariae Pyron, Arteaga, Echevarría, & Torres-Carvajal, 2016 - Nicéforo María's shadow snake
• Synophis plectovertebralis Sheil & T. Grant, 2001 - braided shadow snake
• Synophis zaheri Pyron, Guayasamin, Peñafiel, Bustamante & Arteaga, 2015 - Zaher's shadow snake
• Synophis zamora Torres-Carvajal, Echevarría, Venegas, Chávez & Camper, 2015 - Zamoran shadow snake

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Synophis.

Further reading

• Peracca MG (1896). "Nuovo genere di Colubride aglifo dell'America meridionale ". Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia comparata della R[egia]. Università di Torino 11 (266): 1–2. (Synophis, new genus). (in Italian).
• Pyron, R. Alexander; Arteaga, Alejandro; Echevarría, Lourdes Y.; Torres-Carvajal, Omar (2016). "A revision and key for the tribe Diaphorolepidini (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) and checklist for the genus Synophis ". Zootaxa 4171 (2): 293–320.