Epictia borapeliotes (Vanzolini, 1996)

Guedes, Thaís B., Nogueira, Cristiano & Marques, Otavio A. V., 2014, Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 3863 (1), pp. 1-93 : 18

Epictia borapeliotes (Vanzolini, 1996) “Cobra-de-chumbinho”

(Figs. 8.3 and 21.2)

Caatinga endemic species. Occurs in the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, and Bahia. Most records are from lowland areas from sea level to 500 m maximum elevation, covered with open vegetation including bushy caatinga, arboreal caatinga, and herbaceous caatinga on sandy soils. It was also recently recorded in a Cerrado enclave in Mucugê, Diamantina Plateau , 938 m elevation ( Freitas et al. 2012a). Five records of this species were also observed near the coast (TBG pers. obs.) in municipalities of Natal (Rio Grande do Norte State) and João Pessoa (Paraíba State). Apparently, it has a wide tolerance to variations in humidity levels, which allows its occurrence both in semi arid Caatinga and near wetter coastal areas ( Vanzolini 1996b). It has fossorial habits, is nocturnal and diurnal, and feeds mostly on arthropods ( Vanzolini 1996b; TBG pers. obs.).