Tudors’ Coffee-Snake (Ninia guytudori)

Reptiles of Ecuador | Serpentes | Colubridae | Ninia guytudori

English common name: Tudors’ Coffee-Snake.

Spanish common name: Culebra cafetera de Tudor.

Recognition: ♂♂ 30.1 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=24.3 cm. ♀♀ 21.8 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=18.3 cm..¹ Ninia guytudori can be distinguished from other snakes by having strongly keeled dorsal scales arranged in 19 rows at mid-body, two prefrontal scales, blackish dorsum (Fig. 1), and ventral surfaces of head and body white.¹ This species differs from N. teresitae and N. schmidti by having immaculate white ventral surfaces as well as by having a white nuchal collar merged with the white lip coloration, thus forming a bridle.¹ In the other Ninia, the ventral surfaces are usually heavily obscured by dark pigment.¹ The nuchal collar in juveniles of N. guytudori is much more clearly defined and broad than in adult individuals.

Figure showing variation among individuals of Ninia guytudori

Figure 1: Individuals of Ninia guytudori from Ecuador: Río Manduriacu Reserve, Imbabura province (); Santa Lucía Reserve, Pichincha province (). j=juvenile.

Natural history: Ninia guytudori is a terrestrial and semi-fossorial snake that inhabits well-preserved cloud forests as well as transformed habitats such as coffee plantations.^1,2 Tudors’ Coffee-Snakes have been found active at night on leaf-litter along forest trails or crossing dirt roads in areas of secondary forest.^1,2 During the daytime, they have been found hidden under rotten logs or active at ground level. When threatened, the typical defensive behavior of the Tudors’ Coffee-Snake is to flatten the body and tail while emitting fetid fluids through the cloaca.^1,2

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Conservation: Near Threatened Not currently at risk of extinction, but requires some level of management to maintain healthy populations..¹ Ninia guytudori is listed in this category because the species has been recorded in more than 10 localities and it is distributed over an area that retains the majority (~53%) of its original forest cover.³ Therefore, the species is considered to be facing no major immediate extinction threats. However, some populations are likely to be declining due to deforestation by logging and large-scale mining, especially in the province Imbabura,⁴ where only two populations of the species are known.

Distribution: Ninia guytudori is endemic to an area of approximately 3,432 km² along the Pacific slopes of the Andes in northwestern Ecuador (Fig. 2). The species has only been recorded in Cotopaxi, Imbabura, and Pichincha provinces.

Figure 2: Distribution of Ninia guytudori in Ecuador. The star corresponds to the type locality: Mindo, Pichincha province. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of the presence localities included in the map.

Etymology: The generic name Ninia was coined by Baird and Girard in 1853 without any reference regarding its Greek or Latin root. However, Ninia was one of the many names in Greek mythology used to refer to Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, a legendary musician, poet, and prophet. According to the myth, Eurydice dies after her wedding by stepping on a viper. Orpheus goes mad by losing his only love and travels to the underworld to retrieve her. He plays his softened music so extraordinarily that Hades (God of death) and Persephone (Queen of death) allow him to take Eurydice back to the world of the living.⁵ As far as is known, Ninia does not have Latin roots. The specific epithet guytudori honors Guy Tudor, an all-around naturalist and scientific illustrator with a deep fondness for birds and all animals, in recognition of the impact he has had on the conservation of South America’s birds through his artistry. For many years, Tudor and Bob Ridgely partnered in the preparation of numerous well-regarded volumes on the Neotropical avifauna.¹

See it in the wild: Tudors’ Coffee-Snakes can be seen active at night in forested or agricultural areas throughout the species’ area of distribution. They are also likely to be found during daytime by actively removing leaf-litter, piles of leaves, or fallen objects in agricultural areas, especially in coffee plantations. In Ecuador, the area having the greatest number of observations of Teresita’s Coffee-Snake is Mindo, a valley and town in Pichincha province.

Author: Alejandro Arteaga^aAffiliation: Khamai Foundation, Quito, Ecuador.

Photographer: Jose Vieira^bAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.^,^cAffiliation: ExSitu, Quito, Ecuador.

How to cite? Arteaga A (2024) Tudors’ Coffee-Snake (Ninia guytudori). In: Arteaga A, Bustamante L, Vieira J (Eds) Reptiles of Ecuador: Life in the middle of the world. Available from: www.reptilesofecuador.com. DOI: 10.47051/FBLV7952

Literature cited:

Arteaga A, Harris KJ (2023) A new species of Ninia (Serpentes, Colubridae) from western Ecuador and revalidation of N. schmidti. Evolutionary Systematics 7: 317–334. DOI: 10.3897/evolsyst.7.112476
Field notes, Reptiles of Ecuador book project.
MAE (2012) Línea base de deforestación del Ecuador continental. Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador, Quito, 30 pp.
Guayasamin JM, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Vieira J, Kohn S, Gavilanes G, Lynch RL, Hamilton PS, Maynard RJ (2019) A new glassfrog (Centrolenidae) from the Chocó-Andean Río Manduriacu Reserve, Ecuador, endangered by mining. PeerJ 7: e6400. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6400
Bowra CM (1952) Orpheus and Eurydice. Dancing Times 2: 113–126.

Appendix 1: Locality data used to create the distribution map of Ninia guytudori in Ecuador (Fig. 2). Go to the section on symbols and abbreviations for a list of acronyms used. Asterisk (*) indicates type locality.

Country	Province	Locality	Source
Ecuador	Cotopaxi	Las Pampas	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Imbabura	Reserva Los Cedros	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Imbabura	Reserva Manduriacu	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Camino a Mindo*	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	El Jardín de las Mariposas	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Hacienda San Vicente, upper trails	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Mindo road	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Pachijal	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Río Nambillo	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Santa Lucía Reserve	Arteaga & Harris 2023
Ecuador	Pichincha	Tandapi	Arteaga & Harris 2023