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DOI10.47051/ECIK7982 Published March 18, 2022. Open access.

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Black-headed Centipede-Snake (Tantilla melanocephala)

Reptiles of Ecuador | Serpentes | Colubridae | Tantilla | Tantilla melanocephala

English common name: Black-headed Centipede-Snake.

Spanish common name: Culebra ciempiés cabecinegra.

Recognition: ♂♂ 43.5 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=30.9 cm. ♀♀ 39.9 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=31.7 cm..^1–3 Tantilla melanocephala may be recognized from other snakes in its area of distribution by having the following combination of features: smooth scales arranged in 15 rows at mid-body, a round head similar in width to the neck, small eyes, no loreal scale, and a brownish dorsum with a black head cap and a pattern of thin black longitudinal lines (Fig. 1).^2–7 The presence of straight lines and no dorsal spots distinguishes T. melanocephala from other brownish co-occurring snakes such as Taniophallus brevirostris and Atractus gaigeae.⁸

Figure 1: Individuals of Tantilla melanocephala: Santander department, Colombia (); Cotundo, Napo province, Ecuador (); Morromico, Chocó department, Colombia ().

Natural history: Tantilla melanocephala is an uncommon species in Ecuador,⁹ but is common in some areas of Colombia¹⁰ and Brazil.¹¹ This is a semi-fossorial snake that, in Ecuador, occurs in the evergreen forest ecosystem, but elsewhere in South America also occurs in savannas and seasonally dry forests.¹² This species is present in pristine habitats^7,9 as well as in disturbed areas such as pastures,¹³ cultivated fields,^2,10 rural gardens,^9,14 and houses.¹⁴ Black-headed Centipede-Snakes have been seen moving on soil and leaf-litter¹ or crossing roads³ during the daytime,^6,7,9,15 at dusk,¹⁶ or at night.¹¹ When not active, they bury themselves under soft soil^2,9,14 or hide under rocks,¹⁷ surface debris, in termite mounds, or beneath logs.¹¹ The diet of T. melanocephala is primarily composed of centipedes,^3,11,13,18 but roaches⁶ are occasionally consumed.³ Centipede snakes are venomous to their prey but harmless to humans.¹¹ The time between seizure of a centipede and the onset of pre-ingestion maneuvers is 2–7 minutes.¹¹ Centipedes are always swallowed head first.¹¹

Black-headed Centipede-Snakes rely on their secretive habits as a primary defense mechanism. When threatened, these calm but jittery snakes try to flee by digging into the soil or disappearing into the leaf-litter; if captured, they thrash the body vigorously³ and may shed portions of their tail.^9,16 There are recorded instances of predation on members of this species, including by owls (Athene cunicularia),¹⁹ snakes (Bothrops atrox²⁰ and Pseudoboa coronata⁷), and spiders.^21,22 In seasonally dry areas, breeding coincides with the rainy season;¹¹ but in the Amazon rainforest and in the Atlantic Forest, it seems to take place year-round.^18,23 Gravid females containing 1–3 eggs have been found in the Amazon,^2,3,7,24 and in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest of Brazil.¹¹ Clutch sizes of 2–3 eggs has been reported.^16,25

Conservation: Least Concern Believed to be safe from extinction given current circumstances.. ²⁶ Tantilla melanocephala is listed in this category mainly on the basis of the species’ wide distribution, occurrence in protected areas, and presumed stable populations. Therefore, the species is considered to be facing no major immediate extinction threats.²⁶ Black-headed Centipede-Snakes persist in the urban-rural landscape and are likely to keep thriving under current scenarios of global warming.²⁷ It has been hypothesized that these snakes are introduced in several islands in the Caribbean, including Grenada and Mustique, probably from Trinidad or northeastern South America, and likely via boat traffic.^14,28 Some snakes may have arrived in construction materials, such as sand.²⁸ There is information^29–31 that suggests that this snake species suffers from traffic mortality and predation by house cats.

Distribution: Tantilla melanocephala is widely distributed throughout the lowlands and adjacent mountain foothills of Central America and South America, from Central Panamá, Venezuela, and the Lesser Antilles, to northeastern Argentina. The species has an estimated total range size of 2,946,399 km² that encompasses eastern Mesoamerica, the northern Chocó rainforest, the Río Magdalena valley, the entire Amazon basin, the Cerrado, and the Atlantic Forest.¹² In Ecuador, the species has been found only on the Amazonian region (Fig. 2).

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

Etymology: The name Tantilla is derived from the Latin word tantillus (=little)³² and probably refers to the small body size snakes of this genus. The specific epithet melanocephala comes from the Greek words melas (=black) and kephale (=head),³² referring to the black head cap.

See it in the wild: In Ecuador, Black-headed Centipede-Snakes are found about once every few months, especially around the towns Archidona and Santa Cecilia, where individuals are typically spotted along forest trails during the daytime.

Notes: This account follows Wilson and Mena (1980)⁵ and Wilson (1999)³³ in recognizing Tantilla melanocephala and T. equatoriana as distinct species, a view contrary to Greenbaum et al. (2004).³⁴ Tantilla fraseri is also considered to be a valid taxon and not a synonym of T. melanocephala, following Peters (1960).³⁵ An unpublished³⁶ species delimitation analysis based on DNA sequences confirms these arrangements, a view that is shared here based also on the differences in head pattern between the species.

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

Photographers: Jose Vieira,^bAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.^,cAffiliation: ExSitu, Quito, Ecuador. Sebastián Di Doménico,^dAffiliation: Keeping Nature, Bogotá, Colombia. and Alejandro Arteaga^aAffiliation: Khamai Foundation, Quito, Ecuador.

How to cite? Arteaga A (2022) Black-headed Centipede-Snake (Tantilla melanocephala). 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/ECIK7982

Literature cited:

1. Duellman WE (1978) The biology of an equatorial herpetofauna in Amazonian Ecuador. Publications of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 65: 1–352.
2. Dixon JR, Soini P (1986) The reptiles of the upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos region, Peru. Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, 154 pp.
3. Martins M, Oliveira ME (1998) Natural history of snakes in forests of the Manaus region, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetological Natural History 6: 78–150.
4. Hoogmoed MS, Gruber U (1983) Spix and Wagler type specimens of reptiles and amphibian in the Natural History Museum in Munich (Germany) and Leiden (The Netherlands). Spixiana 9: 319–415.
5. Wilson LD, Mena CE (1980) Systematics of the melanocephala group of the colubrid snake genus Tantilla. Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11: 5–58.
6. Beebe W (1946) Field notes on the snakes of Kartabo, British Guiana, and Caripito, Venezuela. Zoologica 31: 11–52.
7. Duellman WE (2005) Cusco amazónico: the lives of amphibians and reptiles in an Amazonian rainforest. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 433 pp.
8. Whitworth A, Beirne C (2011) Reptiles of the Yachana Reserve. Global Vision International, Exeter, 130 pp.
9. Field notes, Reptiles of Ecuador book project.
10. Lynch JD (2015) The role of plantations of the African palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in the conservation of snakes in Colombia. Caldasia 37: 169–182.
11. Marques OAV, Puorto G (1998) Feeding, reproduction and growth in the crowned snake Tantilla melanocephala (Colubridae), from southeastern Brazil. Amphibia-Reptilia 19: 311–318. DOI: 10.1163/156853898X00214
12. Nogueira CC, Argôlo AJS, Arzamendia V, Azevedo JA, Barbo FE, Bérnils RS, Bolochio BE, Borges-Martins M, Brasil-Godinho M, Braz H, Buononato MA, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Colli GR, Costa HC, Franco FL, Giraudo A, Gonzalez RC, Guedes T, Hoogmoed MS, Marques OAV, Montingelli GG, Passos P, Prudente ALC, Rivas GA, Sanchez PM, Serrano FC, Silva NJ, Strüssmann C, Vieira-Alencar JPS, Zaher H, Sawaya RJ, Martins M (2019) Atlas of Brazilian snakes: verified point-locality maps to mitigate the Wallacean shortfall in a megadiverse snake fauna. South American Journal of Herpetology 14: 1–274. DOI: 10.2994/SAJH-D-19-00120.1
13. Cunha OR, Nascimento FP (1993) Ofídios da Amazônia. As cobras da região leste do Pará. Papéis Avulsos Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi 40: 9–87.
14. Berg CS, Jeremiah A, Harrison B, Henderson RW (2009) New island records for Tantilla melanocephala (Squamata: Colubridae) on the Grenada Bank. Applied Herpetology 6: 403–404. DOI: 10.1163/157075309X12531848433029
15. Silva JL, Valdez J, Ojasti J (1985) Algunos aspectos de una comunidad de ofidios del norte de Venezuela. Biotropica 17: 112–125. DOI: 10.2307/2388503
16. Marques R, Mebert K, Fonseca E, Rödder D, Solé M, Tinôco MS (2016) Composition and natural history notes of the coastal snake assemblage from Northern Bahia, Brazil. ZooKeys 611: 93–142. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.611.9529
17. Quinn DP, McTaggart AL, Bellah TA, Bentz EJ, Chambers LG, Hedman HD, John R, Muñiz Pagan DN, Rivera Rodríguez MJ (2010) The reptiles of union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 17: 223–234.
18. Araujo de Oliveira F (2016) Variação geográfica na ecologia de Tantilla melanocephala (Serpentes: Colubridae) em áreas de Caatinga e Floresta Atlântica no Nordeste na região Neotropical. MSc thesis, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 51 pp.
19. Granzinolli MAM, Motta-Junior JC (2003) Tantilla melanocephala (Black-headed Snake): predation. Herpetological Review 34: 156–157.
20. Bisneto PF, Kaefer IL (2019) Reproductive and feeding biology of the common lancehead Bothrops atrox (Serpentes, Viperidae) from central and southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. Acta Amazonica 49: 105–113.
21. Rocha CR, Motta PC, Portella AS, Saboya M, Brandão R (2017) Predation of the snake Tantilla melanocephala (Squamata: Colubridae) by the spider Latrodectus geometricus (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Central Brazil. Herpetology Notes 10: 647–650.
22. De Sousa L, Manzanilla J, Cornejo-Escobar P (2007) Depredación sobre serpiente colúbrida por Latrodectus cf. geometricus Koch, 1841 (Araneae: Theridiidae). Ciencia 15: 410–412.
23. Santos-Costa MC, Prudente ALC, Di-Bernardo M (2006) Reproductive biology of Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes, Colubridae) from eastern Amazonia, Brazil. Journal of Herpetology 40: 553–556.
24. Fitch H (1970) Reproductive cycles in lizards and snakes. Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 247 pp.
25. Natera-Mumaw M, Esqueda-González LF, Castelaín-Fernández M (2015) Atlas serpientes de Venezuela. Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., Santiago de Chile, 456 pp.
26. Passos PGH, Powell R (2019) Tantilla melanocephala. The IUCN Red List of threatened species. Available from: www.iucnredlist.org. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T203321A2763890.en
27. Hurtado Morales MJ (2021) Vulnerabilidad e importancia de las serpientes en Colombia: escenarios de cambio climático, impactos antrópicos y servicios ecosistémicos. MSc thesis, Universidad de Los Andes, 131 pp.
28. Daudin J, de Silva M (2007) An annotated checklist of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles of the Grenadines with notes on their natural history and conservation. Applied Herpetology 4: 163–175. DOI: 10.1163/157075407780681329
29. Photo by Daniel Mesa.
30. Baltazar R, Burgos Gallardo F, Baldo JL (2013) Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) - (Serpentes: Colubridae): primeros registros para la Provincia de Jujuy y confirmación de su presencia en el noroeste argentino. Cuadernos de Herpetología 27: 81–83.
31. Photo by Saifudeen Muhammad.
32. Brown RW (1956) Composition of scientific words. Smithsonian Books, Washington D.C., 882 pp.
33. Wilson LD (1999) Checklist and key to the species of the genus Tantilla (Serpentes: Colubridae), with some commentary on distribution. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service 122: 1–34. DOI: 10.5479/si.23317515.122.1
34. Greenbaum E, Carr JL, Almendáriz A (2004) Taxonomic status of Tantilla equatoriana Wilson and Mena 1980 (Serpentes: Colubridae). The Southwestern Naturalist 49: 457–464.
35. Peters JA (1960) The snakes of Ecuador; check list and key. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 122: 489–541.
36. Arteaga et al. (unpublished).

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

Country	Province	Locality	Source
Colombia	Caquetá	Florencia	MLS 1256
Colombia	Caquetá	Reserva La Avispa	UAM-R-0397
Colombia	Putumayo	Río Putumayo	Wilson & Mena 1980
Colombia	Putumayo	Vereda La Paz	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	9 de Octubre	Tipantiza-Tuguminago et al. 2021
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Finca El Piura	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	General Plaza	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Gualaquiza	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Kuchintsa	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Miazal	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Normandía	AMNH 35896
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Río Upano	AMNH 28813
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	San Juan Bosco	Photo by Juan Carlos Sanchez
Ecuador	Morona Santiago	Shuin Mamus	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Napo	Archidona	MHNG 2441.014
Ecuador	Napo	Yachana Reserve	Photo by Scott Waters
Ecuador	Napo	Zoo el Arca	This work
Ecuador	Orellana	Concepción	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Orellana	El Coca	MHNG 2412.058
Ecuador	Orellana	Río Bigal Biological Reserve	Photo by Thierry García
Ecuador	Orellana	San José de Suno	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Orellana	Tiputini Biodiversity Station	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Orellana	Yasuní Scientific Station	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Alto Curaray	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Arajuno	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Bataburo Lodge	Online multimedia
Ecuador	Pastaza	Bioparque Yanacocha	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Pastaza	Bobonaza	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Campamento K10	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Pastaza	Canelos	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Copataza (Achuar)	Peñafiel 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Fátima	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Pastaza	Intersección Cueva de los Tayos	Peñafiel 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Kawa	Peñafiel 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Mera	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Pastaza	Montalvo	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Pozo Garza-1	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Pastaza	Puyo	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Puyo, 10 km N of	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Arajuno, headwaters of	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Corrientes	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Curaray	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Huiyoyacu	Arteaga et al. 2013
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Pindo	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Talin	USMN 287933
Ecuador	Pastaza	Río Villano	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Sarayacu	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Pastaza	Shell	MHNG 2309.097
Ecuador	Pastaza	Sumak Kawsay In Situ	Bentley et al. 2021
Ecuador	Pastaza	Villano	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Casa de Eduardo Payaguaje	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Estación PUCE en Cuyabeno	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	La Selva Lodge	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Lago Agrio	Duellman 1978
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Limoncocha	Wilson & Mena 1980
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Playas del Cuyabeno	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	San Pablo de Kantesiya	MHNG 2307.067
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Sani Lodge	This work
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Santa Cecilia	Duellman 1978
Ecuador	Sucumbíos	Tarapoa	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Tungurahua	Unspecified locality	UMMZ 84107
Ecuador	Zamora Chinchipe	Proyecto Minero Mirador	Photo by Raquel Betancourt
Ecuador	Zamora Chinchipe	Tundayme, 10 km SE of	iNaturalist
Ecuador	Zamora Chinchipe	Tundayme, 5 km E of	Nogueira et al. 2019
Ecuador	Zamora Chinchipe	Unspecified locality	UMMZ 82891
Ecuador	Zamora Chinchipe	Valle del Quimi	Betancourt et al. 2018
Perú	Amazonas	Aguaruna Village	MVZ 163428
Perú	Amazonas	Caterpiza	USNM 566611
Perú	Amazonas	Kayamas	MVZ 163314
Perú	Amazonas	Shaim	USNM 316642
Perú	Amazonas	Upper Río Nieva	Wilson & Mena 1980
Perú	Amazonas	Zona Reservada Santiago-Comaina	Jowers et al. 2020
Perú	Loreto	Nauta	Jowers et al. 2020
Perú	Loreto	Sargento Lores	Jowers et al. 2020

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