Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Paul Smith, Silvia Centrón, Gijs Linderman, Alberto Esquivel and Hugo del Castillo and are used with permission.
TOAD-EATING SNAKE Xenodon merremi
As his name suggests the diet of this snake consists mainly of amphibians. Having no venom of his own his main defence is to mimic the deadly Bothrops vipers - don´t take any chances with what you think is a Toad-eating Snake unless you are 100% sure of the identification - you might live (or die!) to regret it if you are wrong and it is a Bothrops! If his imitation doesn´t work his next defence is to flatten the whole body and hiss loudly - this threat display is usually enough to dissuade wouldbe predators. This is an extremely variable species.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPREP320PH) Marked adult, Estero Kuruñai, Departamento Misiones (Silvia Centrón February 2007).
FIGURE 2 - (FPREP321PH) Same individual head detail (Hugo del Castillo February 2007).
FIGURE 3 - (FPREP322PH) Banded adult, Estancia Kanguery, PN San Rafael (Alberto Esquivel September 2006).
FIGURE 4 - (FPREP323PH) Same individual dorsal (Alberto Esquivel September 2006).
FIGURE 5 - (FPREP324PH) Marked adult dorsal, location unknown (Gijs Lindeman undated).
FIGURE 6 - (FPREP325PH) Slightly marked adult, Laguna Bombacha, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 7 - (FPREP326PH) Same individual head detail (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 8 - (FPREP327PH) Same individual dorsal (Paul Smith October 2008).
FIGURE 9 - (FPREP695PH) Bothrops pattern adult, 20km N of Loma Plata, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith July 2012).
FIGURE 10 - (FPREP696PH) Same individual head lateral (Paul Smith July 2012).
FIGURE 11 - (FPREP697PH) Same individual dorsal (Paul Smith July 2012).
FIGURE 12 - (FPREP698PH) Same individual head dorsal (Paul Smith July 2012).
FIGURE 13 - (FPREP699PH) Same individual ventral (Paul Smith July 2012).
FIGURE 14 - (FPREP700PH) Same individual head ventral (Paul Smith July 2012).
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FIGURE 1
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FIGURE 2
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FIGURE 3
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FIGURE 4
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FIGURE 5
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FIGURE 6
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FIGURE 7
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FIGURE 8
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FIGURE 9
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FIGURE 10
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FIGURE 11
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FIGURE 12
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FIGURE 13
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FIGURE 14
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