Black-backed Snake

Erythrolamprus melanotus grows to a total length (tail included) of 43 cm (17 in). Dorsally, it has a light yellow or pinkish color, with a wide, dark vertebral stripe, which is bordered on each side by a thin whitish stripe, followed by a thin dark stripe. The top of the head is olive, and there is a dark stripe passing through the eye. The upper labials and the venter (underside) of the snake are whitish. The dorsal scales are smooth, with apical pits, and are arranged in 17 rows at midbody.

The geographic distribution of Erythrolamprus melanotus includes Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago. It is probably extirpated from Grenada.

Erythrolamprus melanotus is diurnal, hunting during the day along the forest floor, where it feeds on spectacled lizards in the genus Bachia, the rain frog Pristimantis urichi, the puddle frog Engystomops pustulosus, the gecko Gonatodes vittatus, and various unidentified fish.

The English common names for Erythrolamprus melanotus refer to English biologist George Kearsley Shaw, who described and named this snake as a species new to science in 1802.