List of snakes of Trinidad and Tobago

Forty-seven species of snake have been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago, making the snake population of this area the most diverse in the Caribbean. Forty-four of these snake species are found in Trinidad and twenty-one in Tobago. Many of these species are South American, most of which are present in Venezuela. Trinidad and Tobago consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and several smaller islands. The Bocas Islands, which lie between Trinidad and Venezuela, in the Bocas del Dragón (Dragon's Mouths), consist of Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos and Gaspar Grande. Several smaller islands lie off Trinidad, but snakes have been recorded on only one of them, Caledonia Island. Snakes have been recorded on one island off Tobago, Little Tobago. Four species are venomous: two coral snake species (Micrurus spp.^{[note 1]}), the fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox) and the South American bushmaster (Lachesis muta). The common coral (Micrurus fulvius) is found on at least two of the Bocas Islands: Gaspar Grande and Monos. No venomous snakes inhabit Tobago.

Anomalepididae

Anomalepididae is a family of nonvenomous snakes native to Central and South America. They are similar to Typhlopidae, except that some species possess a single tooth in the lower jaw. One possible species has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago.

Anomalepididae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Helminthophis cf. flavoterminatus^{[note 2]}^[1]	Yellow-headed ground puppy; Trinidadian dawn blind snake	Yes^[1]	No	No	No

Leptotyphlopidae

Leptotyphlopidae is a family of snakes found in North and South America, Africa, and Asia. All are fossorial and adapted to burrowing, feeding on ants and termites. One species has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago.

Leptotyphlopidae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Epictia tenella	Guyana blind snake	Yes^[2]	No	No	No

Typhlopidae

Typhlopidae is a family of blind snakes found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas. Two species have been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago.

Typhlopidae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Amerotyphlops brongersmianus	Brongersma's worm snake	Yes^[3]	No	No	No
Amerotyphlops trinitatus^{[note 3]}^[4]	Trinidad burrowing snake	Yes^[4]	Yes^[4]	No	No

Aniliidae

Aniliidae is a monotypic family created for the monotypic genus Anilius, which means that there is only one species in the entire family. This species is A. scytale, found in South America.

Aniliidae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Anilus scytale scytale^{[note 4]}	Burrowing false coral; rouleau	Yes^[5]	No	No	No

Boidae

Boidae is a family of non-venomous snakes found in America, Africa, Europe, Asia and some Pacific Islands, containing the boas. Four species have been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago.

Boidae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Boa constrictor constrictor	Macajuel, boa constrictor	Yes^[6]	Yes^[6]	Yes^{[note 5]}^[6]	No
Corallus ruschenbergerii	Cascabel dormillon; Cook's tree boa	Yes^[7]	Yes^[7]	No	No
Epicrates cenchria maurus	Rainbow boa	Yes^[8]	Yes^[8]	Yes^{[note 6]}^[8]	No
Eunectes murinus gigas	Green anaconda	Yes^[9]	No	No	No

Family Colubridae

Colubridae is a family of snakes comprising about two thirds of all snake species on earth. Colubrid species are found on every continent, except Antarctica.^[10] Species from three subfamilies are found in Trinidad and Tobago.

Subfamily Xenodontinae

Xenodontinae is a subfamily of snakes within the family Colubridae that includes mud snakes and New World hognose snakes.

Xenodontinae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Liophis cobellus cobellus	Mangrove snake, mangrove mapepire	Yes^[11]	No	No	No
Liophis melanotus nesos^{[note 7]}	Beh belle chemin, doctor snake	Yes^[12]	Yes^[12]	Yes^[12]	No
Liophis reginae zweifeli	High woods coral	Yes^[13]	Yes^[13]	No	No
Oxyrhopus petola petola	False coral	Yes^[14]	Yes^[14]	No	No
Pseudoboa neuwiedii	Ratonel	Yes^[15]	Yes^[15]	Yes^{[note 8]}^[15]	No
Siphlophis cervinus	Checkerbelly	Yes^[16]	No	No	No
Siphlophis compressus	Tropical flat snake	Yes	No	No	No
Thamnodynastes ramonriveroi	Striped swamp snake	Yes^[17]^[18]	No	No	No
Tripanurgos compressus	Mapepire de fe, false coral	Yes^[19]	No	No	No

Subfamily Dipsadinae

Dipsadinae is a subfamily of snakes within the family Colubridae that includes cat-eyed snakes, night snakes, and black-striped snakes.

Dipsadinae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Atractus fuliginosus	Hallowell's ground snake	No	Yes^[20]	No	No
Atractus trilineatus	Three-lined ground snake	Yes^[21]	Yes^[21]	?^{[note 9]}	No
Atractus cf. univittatus^{[note 10]}	Tobago one-lined snake	No	Yes^[22]	No	No
Clelia clelia clelia	Black cribo, mussurana	Yes^[23]	No	Yes^{[note 11]}^[23]	No
Dipsas variegata trinitatis^{[note 12]}	Snail-eating snake	Yes^[24]	No	No	No
Erythrolamprus aesculapii^{[note 13]}	False coral	Yes^[25]	No	No	No
Erythrolamprus bizona^{[note 14]}	False coral	Yes^[26]	No	No	No
Erythrolamprus cobella	Mangrove snake	Yes^[27]	No	No	No
Erythrolamprus melanotus	Black-backed snake	Yes	Yes	No	No
Erythrolamprus ocellatus^{[note 15]}	Tobago false coral, red snake	No	Yes^[28]	No	No
Erythrolamprus pseudoreginae	Tobago stream snake	No	Yes^[29]	No	No
Erythrolamprus zweifeli	Zweifel's ground snake	Yes^[30]	No	No	No
Helicops angulatus	Water mapepire, brown-banded water snake	Yes^[31]	No	No	No
Hydrops triangularis neglectus	Water coral	Yes^[32]	No	No	No
Imantodes cenchoa cenchoa	Mapepire corde violon, fiddle-string snake	Yes^[33]	Yes^[33]	No	No
Leptodeira annulata ashmeadi	False mapepire, cat-eyed night snake	Yes^[34]	Yes^[34]	Yes^{[note 16]}^[34]	No
Ninia atrata	Red-nape snake, ring neck snake	Yes^[35]	Yes^[35]	No	No
Ninia franciscoi	Trinidad coffeesnake	Yes	No	No	No
Sibon nebulata nebulata	Clouded snake	Yes^[36]	Yes^[36]	Yes^{[note 17]}^[36]	No

Subfamily Colubrinae

Colubrinae is the largest subfamily of colubrids, and includes rat snakes, king snakes, milk snakes, vine snakes and indigo snakes.

Colubrinae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Chironius carinatus carinatus	Machete savane, yellow machete	Yes^[37]	No	No	No
Chironius multiventris septentrionalis	Long-tailed machete savane	Yes^[38]	No	No	No
Chironius scurrulus^{[note 18]}	Smooth machete savane	Yes^[39]	No	No	No
Drymarchon corais corais	Yellow-tailed cribo	Yes^[40]	Yes^[40]	Yes^{[note 19]}^[40]	No
Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorus	Lora, parrot snake	Yes^[41]	Yes^[41]	No	No
Leptophis stimsoni^{[note 20]}	Grey lora	Yes^[42]	No	No	No
Mastigodryas amarali	Amaral's tropical racer	Yes^[43]	Yes^[43]	No	No
Mastigodryas boddaerti boddaerti	Machete couesse	Yes^[44]	No	Yes^{[note 21]}^[44]	Yes^[44]
Mastigodryas boddaerti dunni^{[note 22]}	Machete couesse	No	Yes^[45]	No	Yes^[45]
Oxybelis rutherfordi	Horsewhip	Yes^[46]	Yes^[46]	Yes^{[note 23]}^[46]	No
Phrynonax polylepis	Olivaceous bird snake, cutlah	Yes	No	No	No
Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis	Dos cocorite	Yes^[47]	No	No	No
Pseustes sulphureus sulphureus	Yellow-bellied puffing snake	Yes^[48]	No	No	No
Spilotes pullatus pullatus	Tigre, chicken snake	Yes^[49]	Yes^[49]	No	No
Tantilla melanocephala	Black-headed snake	Yes^[50]	Yes^[50]	Yes^{[note 24]}^[50]	No

Family Elapidae

Elapidae is a family of venomous snakes found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. Two species are found in Trinidad and Tobago.

Elapidae
Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Micrurus diutius	Trinidad ribbon coral snake	Yes^[51]	No	No	No
Micrurus circinalis	Large coral snake	Yes^[52]	No	Yes^{[note 25]}^[53]^[54]	No

Family Viperidae

Viperidae is a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except for Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Madagascar, Hawaii and the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom. Two species are found in Trinidad and Tobago.

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Bothrops atrox	Mapepire balsain, fer-de-lance	Yes^[55]	No	No	No
Lachesis muta muta	Mapepire zanana, mapepire z'ananas, bushmaster	Yes^[56]	No	No	No

Notes

References

All information is based on Boos (2001) unless otherwise stated.

Bibliography

Boos, Hans E.A. (2001). The snakes of Trinidad and Tobago. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX. ISBN 1-58544-116-3.

External links

Medicinal and ethnoveterinary remedies of hunters in Trinidad from BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (BioMed Central).

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