DOI10.47051/ACXN6701

Published March 6, 2021. Open access.

Gallery ❯

Uku Pacha Ground Snake (Atractus ukupacha)

Reptiles of Ecuador | Serpentes | Colubridae | Atractus | Atractus ukupacha

English common name: Uku Pacha Ground Snake.

Spanish common name: Tierrera resplandeciente.

Recognition: ♂♂ 46.5 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=39 cm. ♀♀ 51 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=46.4 cm..1 The Uku Pacha Ground Snake (Atractus ukupacha) may be recognized from other snakes in its area of distribution by having a round head similar in width to the neck, small eyes, and dorsal pattern consisting of alternating narrow (1–2 dorsal scales wide) light reddish brown bands and broad (4–5 dorsal scales wide) blackish bands.1 Some individuals (Fig. 1) have the bands fused into irregular longitudinal blotches. Juvenile specimens have a white nape.2 The most similar snakes occurring in the same general area are A. pachacamac and A. touzeti, both of which are larger (>60 cm in total length), more robust, and instead of having solid black bands, have brownish bands that are lighter in the middle.3 Additionally, A. touzeti has seven (instead of eight) supralabial scales and so far is known to occur only in Cordillera de Guacamayos at elevations higher than those where A. ukupacha occurs.

Figure showing variation among individuals of Atractus ukupacha

Figure 1: Individuals of the Uku Pacha Ground Snake (Atractus ukupacha) from El Chaco, Napo province () and Sumaco Camp 1, Napo province (), Ecuador. ad=adult, sa=subadult.

Natural history: Locally frequentRecorded weekly in densities below five individuals per locality.. Atractus ukupacha is a semi-fossorial (living underground and at ground level) snake that inhabits old-growth to heavily disturbed evergreen montane forests as well as agricultural fields adjacent to these forests.4,5 Uku Pacha Ground Snakes have been found hidden under rocks, logs, under soil, or among herbaceous vegetation during the day.5 During warm nights, they have been seen crossing dirt roads and trails or foraging under leaf-litter in the forest floor.4,5 In captivity, individuals of A. ukupacha consume earthworms,5 as is the case in the wild for other ground snakes.6–8 Although the defensive behavior of this species is unknown, camouflage and trying to to flee are common behavior among other banded Amazonian Atractus.8,9

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Conservation: Least Concern Believed to be safe from extinction given current circumstances.. Since it has only been recently described,1 Atractus ukupacha has not been formally included in any IUCN red list threat category. Here, we propose to assign it to the Least Concern category because the species occurs in three major protected areas (Antisana Ecological Reserve, Cayambe Coca National Park, and Sumaco National Park) and it is distributed over an area that retains the majority (~90%) of its original forest cover.10 Although we consider the species to be facing no major immediate extinction threats, the expansion of the agricultural frontier coupled with traffic mortality are localized ongoing threats to the long-term survival of populations along the Río Quijos valley.11–13

Distribution: Atractus ukupacha is endemic to an estimated ~3,340 km2 area in the Amazonian slopes of the Andes of northern Ecuador. The species occurs at elevations between 1192 and 1819 m (Fig. 2).

Distribution of Atractus ukupacha in Ecuador

Figure 2: Distribution of Atractus ukupacha in Ecuador. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of the presence localities included in the map.

Etymology: The name Atractus, which is a latinization of the Greek word άτρακτος (meaning “spindle”),14–16 probably refers to the fact that snakes of this genus have a uniform width throughout the body and a narrow tail, resembling an antique spindle used to spin fibers. The specific epithet ukupacha refers to Uka Pacha, which, in Inca mythology, represents the underworld. The name is used in allusion to the semi-fossorial habits of the species.1

See it in the wild: Uku Pacha Groundsnakes can be seen with ~5–10% certainty around the towns El Chaco and San Francisco de Borja, especially if the search includes turning over rocks and logs in pastures nearby forest border. These snakes can also be located by scanning the forest floor and leaf-litter along trails and dirt roads at night.

Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Diego Piñán for providing information on the natural history of Atractus ukupacha.

Authors: Duvan ZambranoaAffiliation: Universidad del Tolima, Ibagué, Colombia. and Alejandro ArteagabAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.

Photographers: Jose VieirabAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.,cAffiliation: ExSitu, Quito, Ecuador. and Matthijs HollandersdAffiliation: Southern Cross University, East Lismore, Australia.

How to cite? Zambrano D, Arteaga A (2021) Uku Pacha Ground Snake (Atractus ukupacha). In: Arteaga A, Bustamante L, Vieira J, Guayasamin JM (Eds) Reptiles of Ecuador: Life in the middle of the world. Available from: www.reptilesofecuador.com. DOI: 10.47051/ACXN6701

Literature cited:

  1. Melo-Sampaio PR, Passos P, Prudente ALC, Venegas PJ, Torres-Carvajal O (2021) Systematic review of the polychromatic ground snakes Atractus snethlageae complex reveals four new species from threatened environments. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 00: 1–30. DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12453
  2. Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D (2019) Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich online portal, with dynamic checklists and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13: 209–229.
  3. Schargel WE, Lamar WW, Passos P, Valencia JH, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Campbell JA (2013) A new giant Atractus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from Ecuador, with notes on some other large Amazonian congeners. Zootaxa 3721: 455–474. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3721.5.2
  4. Field notes, Reptiles of Ecuador book project.
  5. Diego Piñán, pers. comm.
  6. Silva Haad J (2004) Las serpientes del género Atractus Wagler, 1828 (Colubridae, Xenodontinae) en la Amazonia colombiana. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 28: 409–446.
  7. Passos P, Scanferla A, Melo-Sampaio PR, Brito J, Almendariz A (2018) A giant on the ground: another large-bodied Atractus (Serpentes: Dipsadinae) from Ecuadorian Andes, with comments on the dietary specializations of the goo-eaters snakes. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 91: e20170976. DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765201820170976
  8. Martins M, Oliveira ME (1998) Natural history of snakes in forests of the Manaus region, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetological Natural History 6: 78–150.
  9. Martins M, Marques OAV, Sazima I (2008) How to be arboreal and diurnal and still stay alive: microhabitat use, time of activity, and defense in neotropical forest snakes. South American Journal of Herpetology 3: 58–67. DOI: 10.2994/1808-9798(2008)3[58:HTBAAD]2.0.CO;2
  10. MAE (2012) Línea base de deforestación del Ecuador continental. Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador, Quito, 30 pp.
  11. Grijalva JE, Arévalo V, Wood CH (2004) Expansión y trayectorias de la ganadería en la Amazonía. Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Quito, 214 pp.
  12. Guamán Rivera SA, Gonzáles Marcillo RL, Carrasco R, Guamán F (2019) Caracterización de los sistemas ganaderos de aptitud lechera en el Valle del Quijos, provincia del Napo, Ecuador. European Scientific Journal 15: 279–292. DOI: 10.19044/esj.2019.v15n15p279
  13. Medrano Vizcaíno PM (2015) Efecto de las carreteras en la mortalidad de vertebrados en un área megadiversa: los Andes Tropicales del Ecuador. MSc thesis, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, 50 pp.
  14. Woodward SP, Tate R (1830) A manual of the Mollusca: being a treatise on recent and fossil shells. C. Lockwood and Company, London, 750 pp.
  15. Beekes R (2010) Etymological dictionary of Greek. Brill, Boston, 1808 pp.
  16. Duponchel P, Chevrolat L (1849) Atractus. In: d’Orbigny CD (Ed) Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle. MM. Renard, Martinet et Cie., Paris, 312.

Appendix 1: Locality data used to create the distribution map of Atractus ukupacha in Ecuador (Fig. 2). Go to the section on symbols and abbreviations for a list of acronyms used.

CountryProvinceLocalitySource
EcuadorNapoBaeza–CosangaThis work
EcuadorNapoCascabeliNaturalist
EcuadorNapoPacto Sumaco, 3 km S ofCamper et al. (in press)
EcuadorNapoPiedra FinaMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoQuijosMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoRío CascabeliNaturalist
EcuadorNapoRío OyacachiThis work
EcuadorNapoSan Francisco de BorjaMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSan Francisco de Borja, 2 km E ofMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSan Francisco de Borja, 2 km N ofMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSan Rafael, Cascada de San RafaelMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSanta Rosa de QuijosMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSardinasMelo-Sampaio et al. 2021
EcuadorNapoSumaco Camp 1This work
EcuadorNapoWild Sumaco Wildlife SanctuaryCamper et al. (in press)
EcuadorOrellanaRío Bigal Biological ReservePhoto by Thierry García
EcuadorSucumbíosEastern slopes of Volcán ReventadoriNaturalist