First record of Tantilla alticola (Boulenger, 1903) (Serpentes: Colubridae) in Cauca state, Colombia, filling distribution gap and notes on natural history

Abstract

Three specimens of Tantilla alticola were collected from sector El Cóndor, Parque Nacional Natural Munchique, municipality of El Tambo, Cauca state, Colombia representing the first record in this state and filling the species' geographical distribution through the western slope of the western cordillera of the Colombian Andes.

New record of Tantilla alticola (Boulenger, 1903) (Serpentes, Colubridae) for the Central Cordillera in the department of Tolima, Colombia

“…The genus Tantilla Baird & Girard, 1853 is considered one of the richest of the family Colubridae, as it is currently composed by 66 species (Wilson 1982, Townsend et al 2013, Wilson and Mata-Silva 2015, Uetz et al 2018. The genus is distributed in a wide latitudinal range from the southeastern and southcentral United States to northern Argentina and Uruguay, with 1 species in Trinidad and Tobago (Wilson 1982, Vera-Pérez et al 2015. Colombia harbors 6 species: T. alticola Boulenger, 1903, T. melanocephala Linnaeus, 1758, T. nigra Boulenger, 1914, T. reticulata Cope, 1860, T. semicincta Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854, and T. supracincta Peters, 1863(Hurtado-Gómez et al 2015, all of which live in the lowlands (less than 1,500 m altitude), although T. alticola and T. melanocephala can also be found in the highlands up to 2,740 m altitude (Wilson and Mata-Silva 2015).…”