Oxyrhopus petolarius (Linnaeus, 1758)

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 : 45

Oxyrhopus petolarius (Linnaeus, 1758) “Falsa-coral”

(Figs. 16.6 and 29.2)

First record in the Caatinga. It was recorded in the states of Paraíba, Bahia, and Minas Gerais. Occurs in highlands and contact areas with the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest region. Inhabits mostly areas between 250 and 618 m elevation. Its is a widespread snake along the Atlantic Forest, Amazon Forest, Cerrado, and Pantanal ( Cunha & Nascimento 1978; Martins & Oliveira 1998; Marques et al. 2001, 2005; Nogueira et al. 2010). Inside Caatinga, it appears to be found in moist relictual forest in highlands and bush and arboreal caatinga, with Atlantic Forest influence, in agreste. The species has terrestrial habits, is nocturnal, and feeds mammals and lizards ( Marques et al. 2001, 2005).