{{Short description|Species of snake}} {{Speciesbox | image = Manolepis putnami.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 18 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Ponce-Campos, P. |author2=García Aguayo, A. |date=2007 |title=''Manolepis putnami'' |volume=2007 |article-number=e.T63843A12721371 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63843A12721371.en |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref> | parent_authority = Cope, 1885 | taxon = Manolepis putnami | authority = (Jan, 1863) | synonyms = *''Dromicus putnami'' <br />{{small|Jan, 1863}} *''Tomodon nasutus'' <br />{{small|Cope, 1864}} *''Manolepis nasutus'' <br />{{small|— Cope, 1885}} *''Dromicus (Ocyophis) putnami'' <br />{{small|— Bocourt, 1890}} *''Philodryas putnami'' <br />{{small|— Günther, 1895}} *''Manolepis putnami'' <br />{{small|— Boulenger, 1896}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=RDB/><ref name=Blgr1896>Boulenger GA (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus ''Manolepis'' p. 120; species ''Manolepis putnami'', new combination, p. 120).</ref> }}

The '''ridgehead snake''' ('''''Manolepis putnami''''') is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to southeastern Mexico.

==Etymology== The specific name, ''putnami'', is in honor of American anthropologist Frederic Ward Putnam.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (''Monolepis putnami'', p. 213).</ref>

==Taxonomy== ''M. putnami'' is the type species of the monotypic genus ''Manolepis''.<ref name=RDB>{{EMBL species|genus=Manolepis|species=putnami}}. www.reptile-database.org.</ref>

==Geographic range== ''M. putnami'' is found in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, and Oaxaca.<ref name=RDB/>

==Habitat== The natural habitat of ''M. putnami'' is forest.<ref name="iucn status 18 November 2021" />

==Description== ''M. putnami'' may attain a total length of {{convert|55|cm|in|abbr=on}}, including a tail {{convert|14|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Dorsally, it is pale brown or yellowish, with a brown, darker-edged vertebral stripe three scales wide. Ventrally it is whitish, speckled with brown. The dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, and in 19 rows at midbody. The anal plate is divided, and the subcaudals are in two rows.<ref name=Blgr1896/>

''M. putnami'' is rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous). It has 15 small, equal maxillary teeth, followed, after a space, by two enlarged grooved fangs. The anterior mandibular teeth are much longer than the posterior.<ref name=Blgr1896/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Heimes, Peter (2016). ''Snakes of Mexico: Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. I''. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Chimaira. 572 pp. {{ISBN|9783899731002}}. *Jan G (1863). ''Elenco sistematico degli ofidi descritti e disegnati per l'iconografia generale''. Milan: A. Lombardi. vii + 143 pp. (''Dromicus putnami'', new species, p.&nbsp;67). (in Italian).

{{Taxonbar|from1=Q15148400|from2=Q3286415}}

Category:Dipsadinae Category:Reptiles described in 1863 Category:Reptiles of Mexico Category:Taxa named by Giorgio Jan

{{Dipsadinae-stub}}