Thanatosis (pretending to be dead), sometimes called letisimulation, is widely used as an anti-predator strategy by snakes. Herein we report six cases of death-feigning in six species of Panamanian snakes (Dark-headed Red Falseboa, Pseudoboa neuwiedii; Double-banded False Coralsnake, Erythrolamprus bizona; Forest Flamesnake, Oxyrhopus petolarius; Rufous-headed Snake, Amastridium veliferum; Colombian Long-tailed Snake, Enuliophis sclateri; and Pacific Banded Coffee Snake, Ninia maculata). We also present a literature review of thanatosis in American snakes and discuss the terminology associated with this behavior.

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Panama has 229 species of amphibians and 280 species of reptiles, of which 72 (31.4%) are threatened according tonational legislation and 20 are endemic. The study area is of high ecological value and functions as a natural biologicalcorridor; however, it has very few sites that have been studied. For two years we sampled the area, registering 55 speciesof amphibians and 58 reptiles, including species with local conservation categories, new records of distribution, and anew species for science that will be described in a later work.