Tropidodipsas tricolor

The ground color of the body is black. There are 19–22 reddish orange, light-edged bands on the body, most with dark brown or black medial stippling. There are 8 pale bands on the tail. The iris is chocolate brown. The species can be distinguished from other Tropidodipsas by a combination of its coloration and the following characters: 15/15/15 rows of smooth dorsal scales with no enlarged vertebral row; the prefrontal scale is broader than it is long, entering the orbit; the loreal scale is square, equally as long as it is high, and does not enter the orbit; both males and females have 183 ventral scales; and there are 78–79 divided subcaudals in males and 79 in females.

Tropidodipsas tricolor is restricted to moderate elevations in Sierra Madre del Sur from central Guerrero to western Oaxaca. Its habitats include cloud forest, mesic pine-oak woodland, tropical evergreen forest, and tropical semi-deciduous forest. The species is mostly found at elevations of 1700–2200 m, but occurs at 700–1000 m in mesic tropical evergreen forest in the Sierra de Atoyac. Specimens were found at night on low or medium vegetation up to 3 m tall, or as roadkill.

== References ==