Barbour's tropical racer

Picture taken in Lance Aux Epines, Grenada, West Indies. Photo credit Michael Drake

Barbour's tropical racer
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Mastigodryas
Species:	M. bruesi Barbour, 1914
Binomial name
Mastigodryas bruesi
Synonyms
Alsophis bruesi Barbour, 1914 Mastigodryas bruesi — Schwartz & Henderson, 1991[1]

Barbour's tropical racer (Mastigodryas bruesi) is a species of colubrid snake found in the Caribbean.

Etymology

The specific name, bruesi, is in honor American entomologist Charles Thomas Brues, who was one of the collectors of the type specimen.^[2]

Geographic range

It is native to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.

Description

It can reach a total length (body plus tail) of about 83 cm (33 in). It is blue-gray to brown, with lighter lateral stripes.

Behavior and diet

It is diurnal, hunting frogs and lizards.

Habitat

It can be found in xeric habitats, on the ground, and in bushes, where it sleeps at night.

Locality records

It has been recorded in the southwest corner of Saint Vincent and is widespread all over the Grenadines islands. It is also found on the southern half of Grenada, which is the farthest south it is distributed. It has been introduced to Barbados, probably around thirty years ago, where it has been incorrectly identified as Liophis perfuscus.

References

1. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Mastigodryas bruesi, p. 41).

• Government of Barbados (2002), A National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan for Barbados, p. 55, archived from the original on September 28, 2007, retrieved March 5, 2010.
• Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999), Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean, Macmillan Education Ltd., pp. 101, 104, 107, ISBN 0-333-69141-5.
• Powell, Robert; Henderson, Robert W. (2005), "Conservation Status of Lesser Antillean Reptiles", Iguana, 12 (2): 63–77

Further reading

• Barbour, T. 1914. A Contribution to the Zoögeography of the West Indies, with Especial Reference to Amphibians and Reptiles. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., Harvard College 44 (2): 205-359 + one plate. (Alsophis bruesi, sp. nov., pp. 337-338.)

External links

• Data related to Mastigodryas bruesi at Wikispecies
• Mastigodryas bruesi at the Encyclopedia of Life
• Mastigodryas bruesi at the Reptile Database