Epicrates (snake)

Epicrates
	Brazilian rainbow boa, E. c. cenchria
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Boidae
Subfamily:	Boinae
Genus:	Epicrates; Wagler, 1830
Synonyms
	Epicrates Wagler, 1830; Chilabothrus ; A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1844; Cliftia Gray, 1849; Epicarsius Fischer, 1856; Homalochilus Fischer, 1856; Piesigaster Seoane, 1881; Epicrates Boulenger, 1893; Boella ; H.M. Smith & Chiszar, 1992;

Epicrates is a genus of non-venomous snakes in the subfamily Boinae of the family Boidae. The genus is native to South America and Central America. Five species are currently recognized as being valid, including the rainbow boa.^[2]

Distribution and habitat

Species of Epicrates are found in lower Central America through South America as far south as Argentina.^[1]

Species^[2]	Taxon author^[2]	Subspecies*^[2]	Common name	Geographic range^[1]
E. alvarezi	Ábalos, Báez & Nader, 1964	0	Argentinian rainbow boa	northern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia, western Paraguay
E. assisi	Machado, 1945	0	Caatinga rainbow boa	Brazil
E. cenchria^T	(Linnaeus, 1758)	4*	Rainbow boa^[2]	French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina
E. crassus	(Cope, 1862)	0	Paraguayan rainbow boa	Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil
E. maurus	Gray, 1849	0	Colombian rainbow boa; Brown rainbow boa	Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, northern Brazil, Trinidad, Tobago, Isla Margarita.

The specific name, alvarezi, is in honor of Argentine herpetologist Antenor Álvarez (1864–1948).^[3]

The specific name, assisi, is in honor of Arlindo de Assis who collected the holotype.^[4]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Epicrates". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
^ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Epicrates alvarezi, p. 6).
^ Species Epicrates assisi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.