Atractus gaigeae explained

Atractus gaigeae, also known commonly as Gaige's ground snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Ecuador.

Etymology

The specific name, gaigeae, is in honor of American herpetologist Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige.^[1]

Geographic range

A. gaigeae is found in eastern Ecuador, in the Amazon Basin,

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of A. gaigeae is forest, at altitudes of .

Description

A small species, A gaigeae may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of in females, and in males. The tail is short, about 10% SVL in females, and about 14% SVL in males.

Reproduction

A. gaigeae is oviparous.

Further reading

• James R. Dixon . Dixon . James R. . Soini . Pekka . 1977 . The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru, Part 2: Crocodilians, Turtles, and Snakes . Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology . 4 . 59–154.
• Paulo Passos . Passos . P . Ana Lúcia da Costa Prudente . Prudente . ALC . Luciana de Oliveira Ramos . Ramos . LO . José Rances Caicedo-Portilla . Caicedo-Portilla . JR . John Douglas Lynch . Lynch . JD . 2018 . Species delimitations in the Atractus collaris complex (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) . Zootaxa . 4392 . 3 . 491–520. 10.11646/zootaxa.4392.3.4 . 29690395 .
• Jay M. Savage . Savage . JM . 1955 . Descriptions of New Colubrid Snakes, Genus Atractus, from Ecuador . Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . 68 . 11–20.
• Omar Torres-Carvajal . Torres-Carvajal . O . Gustavo Pazmiño-Otamendi . Pazmiño-Otamendi . G . David Salazar-Valenzuela . Salazar-Valenzuela . D . 2019 . Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich online portal, with dynamic checklists and photographic guides . Amphibian & Reptile Conservation . 13 . 1 . 209–229 (e178).

Notes and References

1. Book: Bo Beolens . Beolens . Bo . Michael Watkins (zoologist) . Watkins . Michael . Grayson . Michael . 2011 . The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles . Baltimore . Johns Hopkins University Press . xiii + 296 pp . 978-1-4214-0135-5.