First continental record of Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861 (Squamata, Colubridae) for Honduras

Abstract

Here we present the first continental record of Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861 for Honduras. This species is confined almost exclusively to dry and arid lowland forest and is considered as a priority one species in the conservation priority list of endemic species of Central America. This record is the second for the country, after that from Isla Exposición, and represents a northeastern extension of 120 km. The next nearest record to the north-northwest is 250 km distant at Lago Ilopango, in El Salvador, and that to the southeast is 130 km away in the municipality of Chinandega, in Nicaragua.

Full text

First continental record of Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861
(Squamata, Colubridae) for Honduras
Cristopher Alberto Antúnez-Fonseca1, 2, Josué Ramos-Galdamez3, Omar Eduardo Jiménez-
Córdova3, Larry David Wilson1, 4
1 Centro Zamorano de Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ambiente y Desarrollo, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana Zamorano, Km. 30 carretera de
Tegucigalpa a Danlí, Valle de Yeguare, Departamento de Francisco Morazán, 11101, Honduras. 2 Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de Honduras en el Valle de Sula, Boulevard Micheletti, San Pedro Sula, Cortés, 21102, Honduras. 3 Escuela de Biología, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Boulevard Suyapa, Tegucigalpa MDC, Francisco Morazán, 11101, Honduras. 4 1350 Pelican Court, Homestead,
Florida, USA.
Corresponding author: Cristopher Alberto Antúnez-Fonseca, cristopher.antunez@unah.edu.hn
Abstract
Here we present the rst continental record of Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861 for Honduras. This species is
conned almost exclusively to dry and arid lowland forest and is considered as a priority one species in the conserva-
tion priority list of endemic species of Central America. This record is the second for the country, after that from Isla
Exposición, and represents a northeastern extension of 120 km. The next nearest record to the north-northwest is 250
km distant at Lago Ilopango, in El Salvador, and that to the southeast is 130 km away in the municipality of Chi-
nandega, in Nicaragua.
Keywords
Arid forest, Centipede Snake, distribution, morphology, reptile, southeastern Honduras.
Academic editor: Raul F.D. Sales | Received 30 January 2020 | Accepted 10 June 2020 | Published 11 September 2020
Citation: Antúnez-Fonseca CA, Ramos-Galdamez J, Jiménez-Córdova OE, Wilson LD (2020) First continental record of Tantilla vermiformis
Hallowell, 1861 (Squamata, Colubridae) for Honduras. Check List 16 (5): 1153–1158. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1153
Introduction
The genus Tan t ill a Baird & Girard, 1853 currently com-
prises 66 described species (Hofmann et al. 2017; McCra-
nie and Smith 2017; Uetz et al. 2020). The members of
this genus inhabit the southern Nearctic and northern
Neotropical regions of the Western Hemisphere, hav-
ing “a coast-to-coast distribution, from the mid- and
southern regions of the United States, throughout most
of Mexico and Central America, and in South America
as far as southern Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, and north-
ern Argentina” (Wilson 1982b; Wilson and Mata-Silva
2014). The members of this genus have a broad eleva-
tional range, from sea level up to 3,080 m a.s.l. (Wilson
1982a, 1999; Wilson and Mata-Silva 2015).
Tant ill a snakes are cryptozoic, semi-fossorial, and
of small size (Taylor 1936; Sánchez-Guillén and Men-
doza-Mendoza 2014). Due to these features, the biology
of many species is poorly known. The taxonomy of the
group is confusing, with many synonymies and species
separation, which reects a lack of understanding of the
phylogenetic relationships (Taylor 1936; Van Devender
Check List 16 (5): 1153–1158
https://doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1153
5
16
© The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

115 4 Check List 16 (5)
and Cole 1977; Wilson 1982a; Greenbaum et al. 2004;
Townsend et al. 2013). Presently, many species have few
individuals deposited in scientic collections, and there
have been few published studies on their internal mor-
phology (e.g., osteology and hemipenial structure) or
their phylogeny (Taylor 1936; Van Devender and Cole
1977; Wilson 1982a; Townsend et al. 2013).
Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861 belongs to the T.
calamarina group (Wilson 1999) and is distributed from
the Atlantic watershed in the Motagua Valley, southeast-
ern Guatemala, and the Pacic watershed, in west-cen-
tral El Salvador, through southern Honduras; and from
western Nicaragua to northwestern Costa Rica, from
20 to 590 m a.s.l. (Van Devender and Cole 1977; Wil-
son 1982a; Köhler 2001; Köhler et al. 2006; McCranie et
al. 2013; Ariano-Sánchez 2015; GBIF 2020). McCranie
(2011) mentioned a possible occurrence of T. vermifor-
mis in Honduras, which was conrmed later by McCra-
nie et al. (2013) based on a record from Isla Exposición,
in the Golfo de Fonseca.
In this document, we present the rst record of T. ver-
miformis from continental Honduras, specically from
the department of El Paraíso. This is the second record
of this species for the country and serves to substantiate
a connection of the continental range between El Salva-
dor and Nicaragua.
Methods
Our new record occurred during a eld trip to the com-
munity of El Rodeo in March 2016, one of the driest
regions of Honduras, represented by a type vegetation of
a Lowland Arid Forest (Holdridge 1967; Mejía-Ordoñez
and House 2002). This region captures between 800 to
1000 mm of rainfall per year (Anonymous 2006) and is
characterized by an extended severe dry season from
December to May with an average annual temperature of
about 22 oC (Zúniga-Andrade 1990) and a frequent range
of 32–34 oC during the day (McCranie et al. 2014).
We found the specimen of T. vermiformis in a ripar-
ian forest between a 3–4 m bush area and the banks of
the La Aurora river, tributary of Choluteca river, dur-
ing a casual walk on the rst night. We xed it with for-
malin at 10%, and then submerged it in a 50% alcohol
solution following the techniques of Pisani (1973). The
permit to collect the specimen was provided by the Fun-
dación Yuscarán (INVFY-003/2020). We deposited the
specimen in the herpetological collection of the Museum
of Natural History Biodiversidad y Ciencia at the Uni-
versidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, in Valle de
Sula, San Pedro Sula, Honduras (UVS-V).
Body measurements were taken with a Vernier cali-
per (Mitutoyo) to the nearest 0.02 mm, following Sav-
age (1973). We abbreviated the characteristics as follows:
total length (TOL), snout-vent length (SVL), tail length
(TAL), tail length/total length ratio (TAL/TOL), head
length (HL), head width (HW), and eye width (EW).
We followed Savage (1973) for head scale counting, and
Dowling (1951) for the following scales: ventrals (V),
subcaudals (SC), temporals (TE), supralabials (SL), and
infralabials (IL).
We identied the specimen with the keys from Wil-
so n (1999) and McC rani e (2011), conr m i ng it with in fo r-
mation from Wilson and Mata-Silva (2015). We based
the description on McCranie and Gutsche (2016), and
described the color in life following Campbell (1998),
using digital photographs taken with a Nikon Cam-
era D3000. We based names and color codes on Köhler
(2012). We determined sex by following the method of
Nickerson (1970), which consists of checking for the
presence of hemipenis by trying to pop it out of the body
of the snake.
Results
Tantilla vermiformis Hallowell, 1861
Figures 1, 2; Appendix Table A1
New record. HONDURAS • 1 adult ♀; department of
El Paraíso, municipality of Yuscarán, Reserva Biológica
Yuscarán, La Aurora river, 1.1 km northeast of the com-
munity of El Rodeo; 13.8983°N, 086.7727 °W; approx-
imately 450 m a.s.l.; 4 Mar. 2016; Cristopher Alberto
Antúnez-Fonseca, Omar Eduardo Jimenez-Córdova,
and Josue Ramos-Galdamez leg.; UVS-V 1241.
The specimen was found active at 21:34 h on sandy
substrate about 5 meters distant from the water on the
riverside moving down dry cattle manure at an ambient
temperature of 24 °C (Fig. 2B).
Identi cation . The T. vermiformis specimen (Fig. 2A)
presents the following body measurements (in mm):
TOL= 156.0, SVL= 132.0, TAL= 24.0, TAL/TOL= 0.15,
HL= 6.0, HW= 3.35, EW= 1.5. Head slightly distinct
from the body; pupil circular; loreal absent; preocular
in contact with postnasal; supralabials 7/7, with 3rd and
4th in contact with the eye; rostral one; parietals two;
infralabials 6/6, rst pair medially separated by men-
tal and others by mental shield and anterior and poste-
rior chinshields; elongated chinshields arranged in two
pairs; mental groove present; postoculars 2/2; internasal
1/1; prenasal 1/1; postnasal 1/1; supraocular 1/1; tempo-
rals 1+1; frontal one; ventrals 117; divided subcaudals 26;
cloacal shield divided; smooth dorsal scales, without api-
cal pits and arranged in 15–15–15 rows. Dentition opis-
toglyph. Color in life as follows: dorsal surface of the
body Cinnamon-Rufous (Color 31), with scale edges Yel-
low Ocher (14); dark points on the vertebral scales end at
the cloaca and on the tail become a continuous irregular
line; dorsolaterals throughout the body uniform Warm
Sepia (40); the anterosuperior (snout) region of the head
is Yellow Ocher (14), as is the nuchal collar; eye Warm
Sepia (40), chin and belly immaculate Cream White (52).
The members of T. vermiformis are distinguished
from other members of the same genus for having a
brown or pink back, with a dark middorsal line in the
middorsal scale row, a pale parietal spot in the head, two

Antúnez-Fonseca et al. | Tantilla vermiformisin Honduras 1155
Figure 1. Map of geographic distribution of Tantilla vermiformis. The red circle represents the new record for the species, the orange
rhombus corresponds to the records from insular Honduras, and the yellow squares represent the known records in Guatemala, El Salva-
dor, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
Figure 2. A. Specimen of Tantilla vermiformis (UVS -V 1241). B. La Aurora river, where the Tantilla vermiformis (UVS-V 1241) was collected.

115 6 Check List 16 (5)
postoculars, seven supralabials, maximum know TOL
167, 115–129 ventrals, and 19–27 subcaudals (Wilson
1982a, 1987). A member of the genus that can live in
the same geographical area is T. armill ata but presents
a greater length, with a maximum know TOL 490, 155–
177 ventrals, and 42–65 subcaudals (McCranie 2011;
McCranie and Gutsche 2016).
The measurements and scalation of the examined
specimen are consistent with the known range variation
of T. vermiformis (Wilson and Villa 1973; Wilson 1982a;
Van Devender and Cole 1977; Savage 2002; Köhler et
al. 2006; McCranie and Gutsche 2016; Table 1). The col-
oration, in turn, is at variance with that described for
specimens from other countries. Our specimen has the
fragmented dark mediodorsal line inconspicuous; the
dorsal surface of the body is pale; and the venter pres-
ents an immaculate cream white color. The Nicaragua
specimens have pale pink venter (Wilson and Villa 1973;
Wilson 1982a); the Costa Rica specimens have the dark
middorsal stripe almost continuous, and some individu-
als with a pale yellow venter (Van Devender and Cole
1977); the El Salvador specimens have a dark brown dor-
sal surface (Köhler et al. 2006); and the southern Hondu-
ras specimens have the dark middorsal stripe continuous,
the dorsal surface of the body is dark, and the venter is
glaucous (McCranie and Gutsche 2016).
Discussion
Our new record of T. vermiformis represents the rst
continental and the second overall record for Honduras.
The rst record for the country is from Isla Exposición,
in the Golfo de Fonseca, in the insular part of the depart-
ment of Valle, located in the southern portion of the
country (McCranie et al. 2013). In addition, McCranie et
al. (2013) mentioned that the individual was active dur-
ing the day, in contrast to the specimen reported here,
which was active at night. The occurrence of this species
in El Rodeo, Yuscarán, lls a gap in the known distribu-
tion between the populations of central El Salvador and
those of western Nicaragua. The locality of the specimen
reported here lies 120 km northeast from that reported
by McCranie et al. (2013). Furthermore, it is separated
by 250 km east-southeast from the nearest record in
Lago Ilopango, El Salvador, and 130 km northwest from
that in the municipality of Chinandega, Nicaragua. The
elevational data for this specimen increases the species
range of occurrence in Honduras from 20 m to 450 m
a.s.l. (McCranie et al. 2013).
Tantilla vermiformis is considered part of the sub-
humid assemblage species group and is considered
endemic to Middle American Subhumid Forest (Wilson
and McCranie 1998). The present record is from an area
known as the middle and upper Choluteca Valley. Pre-
viously, this snake was recorded in subhumid areas of
the Pacic Coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Wilson
and McCranie 1998); all of these localities can be consid-
ered as a block termed the Pacic slope subhumid areas.
The individual found in Guatemala is from the Motagua
Valley subhumid area, so this species might occur far-
ther north on Atlantic slope of Middle America. In Wil-
son and McCranie’s (1998) discussion, T. vermiformis
was not included in the analysis of generalized tracks
and areas of endemism. Now, given the existence of the
recent localities in Guatemala (Ariano-Sánchez 2015),
and considering the distribution of T. calamarina species
group members, it is possible that the western Mexican is
the generalized track (Wilson and McCranie 1998) most
likely to account for the current distribution of T. vermi-
formis. If so, this would mean that ancestors reached the
subhumid forests of Middle America by dispersing south-
ward from the subhumid lowlands of western Mexico.
The presence of T. vermiformis in the lowland arid
forest of El Rodeo increases the importance of protec-
tion of this forest patch, and indicates the need for more
attention to riparian forest because this type of habitat
potentially can serve as a refuge for dierent taxa present
in tropical forest (Meave et al. 1991). Also, the riparian
forest should be protected by the local people, inasmuch
as they benet from the maintenance of the river’s water.
Mata-Silva et al. (2019) mentioned that T. vermifor-
mis occurs only in the physiog raphic region of the Paci c
lowlands, from southeastern Guatemala to northwestern
Costa Rica (although the town in Guatemala occurs on
the Atlantic lowlands). The Environmental Vulnerability
Score placed this species at the lower limit of the high
Tab le 1. Data on the examined specimens from the countries in which Tantilla vermiformis is distributed. Acronyms: CR: Costa Rica; NIC:
Nicaragua; HN: Honduras; ES: El Salvador; GUA: Guatemala; V: ventrals; SC: subcaudals; TE: temporals; SL: supralabials; IL: infralabials; TOL:
total length (mm); SVL: snout-vent length (mm); TAL/TOL: tail length/total length ratio. Sources: Costa Rica: Van Devender and Cole (1977),
Wilson (1982a), Savage (2002); Nicaragua: Wilson and Villa (1973), Van Devender and Cole (1977), Wilson (1982a); Honduras: McCranie and
Gutsche (2016), this study; El Salvador: Köhler et al. (2006); Guatemala: Daniel Ariano-Sánchez, personal data.
Country Sex VSC TE SL IL TOL SVL TAL/ TOL
CR M115–12 3 23–28 0–2 7–7 6–6 63–157 55–13 5† 12–14 %
F120–129 19–24 7–7 6–6 57–138† 1 0–12 %
NIC M115–119 25–28 27–7 6–6 141–145 122–124 13–14%
F116–1 20 22–2 7 27–7 6–6 14–15%
HN F117–128 22–26 27–7 6–7 73–156 64 –132 12–15%
ES F118 19 27–7 6–6 77 69 12%
GUA F127 24 27–7 6–6 167 147 12%
† These data were calculated between the TOL range and the TAL/TOL ratio for each sex.

Antúnez-Fonseca et al. | Tantilla vermiformisin Honduras 1157
vulnerability category, based on its almost exclusive
occurrence in dry and arid lowland forest, on its semi-
fossorial habits, and on the distribution extending from
southeastern Guatemala to northwestern Costa Rica
(Johnson et al. 2015). This information serves to place
T. vermiformis in the priority one level in the conserva-
tion priority list of endemic species of Central America
(Mata-Silva et al. 2019).
McCranie et al. (2014) published eight records of rep-
tiles from the same locality, including the endangered
Pit Viper, Agkistrodon howardgloydi Conant, 1984, and
these authors highlighted the need for more study and
monitoring to understand the faunal composition and to
devise a management plan to protect the lowland arid
forest, because there are only a few relatively extensive
patches left. Our new record helps to reinforce this con-
clusion and, along with T. vermiformis, several other
snake species also found for the rst time in this for-
est (JRG unpublished data), indicating that the herpeto-
faunal component might be greater and, therefore, such
patches are important reservoirs for the herpetofauna of
the lowland arid forest.
Acknowledgements
We thank Kevin Sagastume for supporting us in the lab-
oratory work; Luis and Zara Zuniga and Josue Bonilla
for eld assistance; Emmanuel Orellana for helping us
to handle the specimen; Daniel Ariano Sánchez for pro-
viding data for the Guatemalan specimen; and Alejandro
Salguero and Johan Reyes for helping us with the trans-
lation of this paper to English. Special thanks go to Anto-
nio González, for guiding us in the eld, and Guillermo
Mendoza, from the Fundación Yuscarán, for the provi-
sion of a permit to conduct eldwork in a protected area.
Authors’ Contributions
CAAF found the specimen and CAAF, OEJC, JRG col-
lected it. CAAF took the measurements, did the scale
counting, drew up the color description, and took the
photographic record of the locality. JRG and OEJC pho-
tographed the specimen. LDW and JRG identied, JRG
preserved the specimen and with CAAF elaborated the
map. CAAF, JRG, LDW, and OEJC worked on the writ-
ing, comments, and revisions of the document.
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Appendix
Tab le A1. New and historical localities of the records of Tantilla vermiformis.
Site Country Department Locality Latitude Longitude
Altitude
a.s.l.
(m)
Reference
1 Costa Ric a Guanacaste Finca L a Pacica, NW Cañ as 10.4551°N − 08 5.1318°W 50 Van De vender and Cole 1977; Wilso n 1982a;
GBIF 2020
2 0.6 km E Los Ange les de Tilarán 10.4925°N −085.0158° W 480 Van Devender a nd Cole 1977
3 1.0 km E Los Angele s de Tilarán 10.4894°N −0 85. 0113° W 500 Van Devende r and Cole 1977
4 1.2 km E Los Angel es de Tilarán 10.4913 °N −085.0 097°W 510 Van D evender and Cole 1977
5 2.0 km E Los Ange les de Tilarán 10.500 8°N −085.0055°W 520 Van Devender and C ole 1977
6 8.1 km N Estació n Experimen tal Forestal H orizontes †10.7850°N −085.5519°W 90 Sa vage 2002
7Nicaragua Nuevo León Laguna Monte Galán 12.4391°N −086.5769°W 64 Wils on and Villa 1973; Wilson 1982a; Wil son
1987; G BIF 202 0
8Chinandega NE Reser va Natural Com plejo Volcanico †12.7544°N −08 6.8930° W 26 Köhler 2001; GBIF 2020
9Managua 7.0 km S Las Piedres citas 12.0713°N −086.2936°W 404 Wilson 1982a; W ilson 1987; GBIF 2020
10 Honduras Valle Isla Expo sición 13.3002°N −087.6669°W 20 McCranie e t al. 2013
11 El Paraíso El Rodeo 13.89 83°N −086.7727°W 450 This study
12 El Salvador San Salvador Lago Ilopango 13.6666°N −089.0500°W 400 Köhle r et al. 2006; GBIF 2020
13 La Liber tad †13.735 8°N −089.2605°W 685 Köhler e t al. 2006
14 Sonsonate San Anton io del Monte †13.7158°N −089.7525°W 279 Mentioned by Ariano-Sánchez 2015
15 Guatemala Zacapa RNC del Heloderma y Bosque Seco 14.86 29°N − 089.7881°W 59 0 Ariano-Sánchez 2015
†We approximated the geographical coordinates that were too imprecise or not provided.