Chironius

Chironius
Chironius scurrulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Chironius Fitzinger, 1826
Species
23, See text.

Chironius is a genus of New World colubrid snakes, commonly called sipos (from the Portuguese word cipó for liana), savanes, or sometimes vine snakes. There are 23 described species in this genus.

Species[]

The following 23 species are recognized as being valid.^[1]

• (Wied, 1820) – two-headed sipo
• & , 2015
• Chironius carinatus (Linnaeus, 1758) – machete savane
• Kok, 2010
• Fernandes & Hamdan, 2014
• Chironius exoletus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Linnaeus' sipo
• Chironius flavolineatus (Boettger, 1885) – Boettger's sipo
• (F. Werner, 1909)
• Bailey, 1955
• Chironius fuscus (Linnaeus, 1758) – brown sipo
• Entiauspe-Neto, Lúcio-Lyra, Koch, Marques-Quintela, Diesel-Abegg, & Loebmann, 2020 – Gouvea's sipo
• (W. Peters, 1869) – Ecuador sipo
• (Wied, 1824) – Brazilian sipo
• Chironius laurenti Dixon, & Cei, 1993
• Dixon, Wiest & Cei, 1993
• Dixon, Wiest & Cei, 1993
• Roze, 1952 – mountain sipo
• Chironius multiventris Schmidt & , 1943 – long-tailed machete savane
• (F. Boie, 1827)
• Chironius scurrulus (Wagler, 1824) – smooth machete savane
• Dixon, Wiest & Cei, 1993
• (Hallowell, 1845)
• Chironius vincenti (Boulenger, 1891) – St. Vincent blacksnake

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Chironius.

Etymology[]

The specific names, brazili and spixii, are in honor of Brazilian herpetologist Vital Brazil and German biologist Johann Baptist von Spix, respectively.^[2]

Conservation status[]

The St. Vincent Blacksnake, Chironius vincenti is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List due to its extremely limited range on the Island of St. Vincent.

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chironius.

Further reading[]

• Fitzinger LI (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. zoologischen Museum's zu Wien. Vienna: J.G. Heubner. five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (Chironius, new genus, p. 60). (in German and Latin).
• Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. ISBN 0-87666-912-7. (Chironius, pp. 30, 64, 92).
• , , , Kok PJR (2018). "Phylogeny, diversity and biogeography of Neotropical sipo snakes (Serpentes: Colubrinae: Chironius)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130: 315–329.