List of snakes of Trinidad and Tobago

This is a list of snakes which have been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago. Forty-seven species have been recorded - forty-four in Trinidad and twenty-one in Tobago, making the snake population of this area by far the most diverse in the Caribbean. Many of these species are South American, most of which are present in Venezuela.

Cascabel Dormillon or Cook's Tree Boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii), Caroni Swamp, Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and several smaller islands. The "Bocas Islands", which lie between Trinidad and Venezuela, in the Bocas del Dragón (Dragons' Mouth), consist of Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos and Gaspar Grande. Several smaller islands lie off Trinidad, but snakes have only been recorded on one of them, Caledonia Island. Snakes have only been recorded on one island off Tobago, Little Tobago.
Only four species are venomous - two Coral Snakes (Micrurus spp.), the Fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox) and the Bushmaster (Lachesis muta). The Common Coral is found on one of the Bocas Islands (Gaspar Grande). No venomous snakes occur in Tobago.

Family Leptotyphlopidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Leptotyphlops albifrons	Ground Puppy	X

Family Typhlopidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Helminthrophis sp.	Yellow-headed Ground Puppy	X
Typhlops brongersmianus	Burrowing Snake	X
Typhlops trinitatus	Trinidad Burrowing Snake	X	X

Family Aniliidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Anilus scytale scytale	Burrowing False Coral; Rouleau	X

Family Boidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Boa constrictor constrictor	Macajuel, Boa Constrictor	X	X	X
Corallus ruschenbergerii	Cascabel Dormillon; Cook's Tree Boa	X	X
Epicrates cenchria maurus	Rainbow Boa	X	X	X
Eunectes murinas gigas	Huille, Anaconda	X

Family Colubridae

Subfamily Xenodontinae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Clelia clelia clelia	Black Cribo, Mussurana	X		X
Erythrolamprus aesculapii	False Coral	X
Erythrolamprus bizona	False Coral	X
Erythrolamprus ocellatus	Tobago False Coral, Red Snake		X
Helicops angulatus	Water Mapepire, Brown-banded Water Snake	X
Hydrops triangularis neglectus	Water Coral	X
Liophis cobellus cobellus	Mangrove Snake, Mangrove Mapepire	X
Liophis melanotus nesos	Beh Belle Chemin, Doctor Snake	X	X	X
Liophis reginae zweifeli	High Woods Coral	X	X
Oxyrhopus petola petola	False Coral	X	X
Pseudoboa neuwiedii	Ratonel	X	X	X
Siphlophis cervinus	Checkerbelly	X
Thamnodynastes sp.	Striped Swamp Snake	X
Tripanurgos compressus	Mapepire De Fe, False Coral	X

Subfamily Dipsadinae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Atractus trilineatus	Three-lined Ground Snake	X	X	?
Atractus cf. univittatus	Tobago One-lined Snake		X
Dipsas variegata trinitatis	Snail-eating Snake	X
Imantodes cenchoa cenchoa	Mapepire Corde Violon, Fiddle-string Snake	X	X
Leptodeira annulata ashmeadi	False Mapepire, Cat-eyed Night Snake	X	X	X
Ninia atrata	Red-nape Snake, Ring Neck Snake	X	X
Sibon nebulata nebulata	Clouded Snake	X	X	X

Subfamily Colubrinae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Chironius carinatus carinatus	Machete Savane, Yellow Machete	X
Chironius multiventris septentrionalis	Long-tailed Machete Savane	X
Chironius scurrulus	Smooth Machete Savane	X
Drymarchon corais corais	Yellow-tailed Cribo	X	X	X
Leptophis ahaetulla coeruleodorus	Lora, Parrot Snake	X	X
Leptophis stimsoni	Grey Lora	X
Mastigodryas boddaerti boddaerti	Machete Couesse	X		X	X
Mastigodryas boddaerti dunni	Machete Couesse		X		X
Oxybelis aeneus	Horsewhip	X	X	X
Pseustes poecilonotus polylepis	Dos Cocorite	X
Pseustes sulphureus sulphureus	Yellow-bellied Puffing Snake	X
Spilotes pullatus pullatus	Tigre, Tigro	X	X
Tantilla melanocephala	Black-headed Snake	X	X	X

Family Elapidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Micrurus lemniscatus diutius	Common Coral Snake	X		X
Micrurus circinalis	Large Coral Snake	X

Family Viperidae

Species	Common name	Trinidad	Tobago	Bocas Is.	Other
Bothrops atrox	Mapepire Balsain, Fer-de-lance	X
Lachesis muta muta	Mapepire Zanana, Mapepire Z'Ananas, Bushmaster	X