Oxybelis aeneus, commonly known as the Mexican vine snake or brown vine snake, is a species of colubrid snake, which is endemic to the Americas.

Geographic range and habitat

Oxybelis aeneus is found from within the Atascosa, Patagonia, and Pajarito mountains of southern Arizona in the United States, through Mexico, to northern South America and Trinidad and Tobago.

Within Arizona, O. eneus is exclusively affiliated with Madrean Evergreen Woodland communities and the upper reaches of adjacent semidesert grassland habitat. It is usually encountered in trees or shrubs on open, steep, and grassy slopes, but is also associated with wooded canyons, especially those with abundant vegetation.

Description

Oxybelis aeneus is an extremely slender snake that reaches up to in total length (including a long tail). Its color may vary from gray to brown with a yellow underside.

thumb|An adult O. aeneus perches in the tree on the left, just above the lowest fork in the trunk. Mexican vine snakes disappear in their natural habitat; their cryptic morphology provides them with highly effective camouflage.

The body is laterally compressed. There is no loreal scale, and there are 8–10 upper labials. In Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, it is known as a "horse whip" or "vine snake".

References

Further reading

  • Behler, John L.; King, F. Wayne (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. . (Oxybelis aeneus, pp. 641–642).
  • Schmidt, Karl P.; Davis, D. Dwight (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Oxybelis microphthalmus, pp. 266–268, Figure 88).
  • Stebbins, Robert C. (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. . (Oxybelis aeneus, pp. 402–403 + Plate 47 + Map 144).
  • Wagler, "Jean" [sic] (1824). "Serpentum Brasiliensium species novae, ou histoire naturelle des espèces nouvelles de serpens, recueillies et observées pendant le voyage dans l'intèrieur du Brésil dans les années 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, exécuté par ordre de sa Majesté le Roi de Baviére ". In: Spix, '"Jean de" [sic] (1824). Animalia nova sive species novae. Munich: F.S. Hübbschmann. viii + 75 pp. + Plates I-XXVI. (Dryinus aeneus, new species, pp. 12–13 + Plate III). (in Latin and French).
  • Zim, Herbert S.; Smith, Hobart M. (1956). Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar Species: A Golden Nature Guide. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. (Oxybelis aeneus, pp. 82, 84, 156).
  • Oxybelis aeneus eating a rosebelly lizard (Sceloporus variabilis)