NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Beautiful calico snake
Oxyrhopus formosus (Wied-Neuwied, 1820)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Oxyrhopus formosus (vernacular names: beautiful calico snake, Formosa false coral snake) is a neotropical snake of the family Dipsadidae. Its distribution is not fully understood, because of inaccurate identifications and confusion with other Oxyrhopus species. It has been reported from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Reports from the Guiana region are based on misidentified O. occipitalis. Oxyrhopus formosus are robust, the head is entirely yellow, and adults are red with prominent black bands; O. occipitalis are slender, the snout is yellow and the top of head is brown, and adults are red with faint crossbands.
Wikipedia contributors, Oxyrhopus formosus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:02:20.317361+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Oxyrhopus formosus (Wied-Neuwied, 1820)
- Name authority
- (Wied-Neuwied, 1820)
- Common name
- Beautiful calico snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Oxyrhopus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyDipsadinae
- genusOxyrhopus
- speciesOxyrhopus formosus (Wied-Neuwied, 1820)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Oxyrhopus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Duméril's False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus clathratus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Fitzinger's False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus fitzingeri (Tschudi, 1845) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Werner's False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus leucomelas (Werner, 1916) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oxyrhopus occipitalis (Wied-Neuwied, 1824) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amazon False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus rhombifer Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oxyrhopus erdisii (Barbour, 1913) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bibron's False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus doliatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oxyrhopus guibei Hoge & Romano, 1977 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Boulenger's False Coral SnakeOxyrhopus marcapatae (Boulenger, 1902) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Forest Flame SnakeOxyrhopus petolarius (Linnaeus, 1758) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oxyrhopus vanidicus Lynch, 2009 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Oxyrhopus labialis Jan, 1863 Jan, 1863 | synonym |
| Oxyrhopus leucocephalus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 | synonym |
| Oxyrhopus submarginatus Peters, 1871 Peters, 1871 | synonym |
| Natrix occipitalis Wagler, 1824 Wagler, 1824 | ambiguous synonym |
| Oxyrhopus iridescens Werner, 1927 Werner, 1927 | synonym |
| Coluber formosus Wied, 1820 Wied, 1820 | synonym |
| Clelia peruviana Griffin, 1916 Griffin, 1916 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Oxyrhopus&species=formosus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4BJYG. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.