Monday, June 1, 2009

Family Loxocemidae

Order Squamata
Infraorder Henophidia (Boidea)


Family Loxocemidae


Only one species: Loxocemus bicolor.

Appearance: The young appear to be dark brown with an iridescent sheen (reminiscent of baby slow worms) and no white markings. Fleckings usually cover just a scale or two at a time are some form of cryptic camouflage, designed to break up the snake's outline in the shadowy habitat it occupies in the wild.

Size: Max. 1.57 m total length (A. Solorzano, pers. comm.).

Distribution: Central America (Southern Mexico to Costa Rica).

Habitat: semi-fossorial terrestrial.

Food: small mammals and reptiles, turtle and lizard eggs.

Reproduction: oviparous (2-4 eggs per clutch)

Behavior: no information available.

Relationships: Previous authors put the species into the subfamily Loxoceminae of the family Boidae.

No comments:

Post a Comment