Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae, Chironius exoletus: distribution extension, new state record

The genus Chironius Fitzinger currently comprises 13 species (Dixon et al. 1993) of diurnal terrestrial-arboreal colubrids, of medium to large size (over 200 cm), cylindrical or compressed body, with 10 or 12 dorsal scales rows to the midbody, dorsal scales largest, smooth or keeled, with apical pits, head differentiated from neck, eyes prominent, pupil round, and moderate to very long tail. This genus is distributed from Nicaragua, Central America, San Vincent island in the Caribbean sea, to southern Brazil and Argentina in South America (Peters and Orejas-Miranda 1970; Dixon et al. 1993). In Venezuela the genus is widely distributed from sea level to 2500 m (Lancini 1982), and six species currently are known: C. carinatus (Linnaeus, 1758), C. exoletus (Linnaeus, 1758), C. fuscus (Linnaeus, 1758), C. monticola Roze, 1952, C. multiventris Schmidt & Walker, 1943, and C. scurrulus (Wagler, 1824) (Lancini and Kornacker 1986; Dixon et al. 1993; La Marca 1997).