Helicops angulatus
—
Banded South American Water Snake
Also known as:
Brown-banded Water Snake, Broad-banded Water Snake, Aquatic Hunter Snake, Mountain Keelback Water Snake
This is a common aquatic snake in Peruvian Amazonia, and our group saw several of them. This fairly drab individual was the only one I personally saw in the wild though. It was stretched across a sidewalk that runs along the river's edge and past at least one village. The sidewalk is colloquially called a "Fujimori sidewalk" because it was one of many built as part of a fairly blatant effort to buy support among rural villagers for past president of Peru Alberto Fujimori.
Here is a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on my 2013 MT Amazon Expeditions trip.
Printed references:
- Bartlett, R.D., and Bartlett, P. 2003. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon: An Ecotourist's Guide
- Dixon, J. R. and Soini, P. 1986. The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru
- Duellman, W.E. 2005. Cusco Amazónico: The Lives of Amphibians and Reptiles in an Amazonian Rainforest