Amastridium

Amastridium is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae.[1] The genus is endemic to Mexico, Central America and Colombia.

Amastridium
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Amastridium Cope, 1861
Species
Two recognized species, see text.

Species and geographic ranges

The genus Amastridium contains the following two species which are recognized as being valid.[2]

• Amastridium sapperi (F. Werner, 1903) – Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
• Amastridium veliferum Cope, 1860 – Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama

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

Etymology

The specific name, sapperi, is in honor of German explorer Karl Sapper.[3]

References

1. Bisby FA, Roskov YR, Orrell TM, Nicolson D, Paglinawan LE, Bailly N, Kirk PM, Bourgoin T, Baillargeon G, Ouvrard D, eds. (2011). "Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist". Species 2000: Reading, UK. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
2. Genus Amastridium at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael, Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Amastridium veliferum sapperi ", p. 232).

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (Genus Amastridium, p. 352).
• Cope ED (1861). "Descriptions of Reptiles from Tropical America and Asia". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1860: 368–374. (Amastridium, new genus, p. 370).