Herpetological Bulletin 141 (2017) 35 First record of Atractus turikensis (Squamata: Colubridae: Dipsadinae) from the Colombian Perijá highlands ANDRÉS CAMILO MONTES-CORREA 1, * , MIGUEL ARÉVALO-PÁEZ 1 , EFRAÍN RADA-VARGAS 1 , ADOLFO DEL PORTILLO-MOZO 2 , HERNÁN DARÍO GRANDA-RODRÍGUEZ 2, 3 & CARLOS RIVERO-BLANCO 4 1 Grupo de Investigación en Manejo y Conservación de Fauna, Flora y Ecosistemas Estratégicos Neotropicales (MIKU), Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia 2 Consultores Ambientales y Salud Ambiental CASA, Santa Marta, Colombia 3 Programa de postgrado en Áreas Silvestres y Conservación de la Naturaleza, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y de la Conservación de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile. Santiago, Chile 4 Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales La Salle, Caracas, Venezuela * Corresponding author Email: andresc.montes@gmail.com SHORT NOTE The Herpetological Bulletin 141, 2017: 35-39 INTRODUCTION T he genus Atractus Wagler 1828 is the most speciose among the neotropical snakes, which is distributed from Panamá to Argentina (Myers, 2003). It is composed by small non-venomous snakes with terrestrial or cryptozoic habits (Silva, 2004). In Colombia, 65 species are recognised (Ecavarría-Rentería et al., 2015; Uetz et al., 2016). However, this number may be underestimated, due to new species being described every year (Passos et al., 2009b; Passos & Lynch, 2010; Khöler & Kieckbusch, 2014). Atractus is mostly represented by endemic or restricted distribution species, sometimes only known from their type localities. (Passos and Fernandes 2008; Passos et al., 2009). In the Serranía del Perijá three species are recognised, Atractus turikensis and A. acheronius from the eastern lank; and A. vertebrolineatus on the western lank (Moreno-Arias et al., 2009; Rivas et al., 2012). However, there are three other records of the genus in the area: A. ventrimaculatus (Rojas-Runjaic et al., 2007), A. eriki (Passos et al., 2009a; see material examined), and A. indistinctus (Passos et al., 2009b). This species have been discussed by Nattera et al. (2015) because of the little information given about these records in their papers, and were considered by them as “dubious”. Conlict generates uncertainty regarding the taxonomic status and speciic determination of any Atractus specimen collected in the Serranía del Perijá. Atractus turikensis is a small and poorly known species, listed as vulnerable according to the most recent red book of the Venezuelan fauna (Rodríguez et al., 2015). It is considered endemic to Venezuela, only known by three specimens originating from the Mesa de Turik, an isolated plateau at 1800m asl, on the eastern lank of the Serranía del Perijá, Estado Zulia, Venezuela (Barros, 2000). Given the inaccessibility of the type locality and lack of specimens and ield observations, all aspects of the biology of this Figure 1. Known distribution of A. turikensis in the Serranía del Perijá. Map designed by Lorena Benítez-Cubillos. ABSTRACT - This paper gives details of the irst record of the small and poorly known dipsadine snake Atractus turikensis in Colombia. This includes the irst specimens that do not correspond to the type series and the irst vouchers of the species outside of Venezuela. We describe its morphology and some aspects of its natural history.