Author: Rosannette Quesada

By Rosannette Quesada-Hidalgo   The Ecuadorian-Venezuelan biologist and explorer Alejandro Arteaga and his team recently described three new species of snakes for Panama. In 2019, the Canopy Family invited Alejandro and his team to explore the herpetofauna of our three ecolodges, the Canopy Tower, the Canopy Lodge, and the Canopy Camp. The Canopy Family helped coordinate the logistics and transportation of the team, and this visit resulted in the discovery of two of the recently described species which occur, among other places, around the Canopy Lodge in El Valle de Antón, Coclé province. To our surprise and honor, one of the species was named Sibon canopy, after the Canopy Family. Alejandro stated, in his recently published paper describing the species in the journal ZooKeys with the Panamanian biologist Abel Batista, that they are grateful that the Canopy Family protects habitat that is critical for dozens of poorly studied snakes in Panama.     The individual used to describe S. canopy, whose proposed common name is Canopy Snail-eating Snake, was collected by Abel Batista in Cerro Gaital, a natural monument located just 15 minutes away from the Canopy Lodge, and a place we visit during our tours. The Canopy Snail-eating Snake is around 35 cm long and forages at night from vegetation 0.5 to 3 m. above the ground. To the present time this species is considered to be endemic to Panama, although one individual has been recorded near the border with Costa Rica, indicating the probable presence of this species in both countries. The second species also occurs, among other sites, in the surroundings of the Canopy Lodge. It is called Dipsas aparatiritos and its proposed common name is Hidden Snail-eater Snake. The authors of the published paper where this species is described stated that the scientific name comes from the