Military Ground Snake

About the Military Ground Snake

The military ground snake (Erythrolamprus miliaris) is a species of snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to South America. South American common names for Erythrolamprus miliaris include cobra-d'água (water snake) and cobra-lisa (smooth snake) in Portuguese, and simply culebra (snake) in Spanish.

Erythrolamprus miliaris was originally described as Coluber miliaris by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Erythrolamprus miliaris belongs to the genus Erythrolamprus, which contains over 50 species. The genus Erythrolamprus belongs to the subfamily Dipsadinae, which is sometimes referred to as the family Dipsadidae. The relationships of Erythrolamprus species located in northern South America can be shown in the cladogram below, based on molecular DNA analysis:

Five subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies. Erythrolamprus miliaris amazonicus (Dunn, 1922) Erythrolamprus miliaris chrysostomus (Cope, 1868) Erythrolamprus miliaris merremi (Wied, 1821) Erythrolamprus miliaris miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758)

Erythrolamprus miliaris orinus (Griffin, 1916) The subspecific name,... Wikipedia →