{{Short description|Species of snake}} {{Speciesbox | image = Elaphe flavirufa.jpg | image_caption = | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Lee, J. |author-link=species:Julian C. Lee |date=2007 |title=''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' |volume=2007 |article-number=e.T63879A12716388 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63879A12716388.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Pseudelaphe | species = flavirufa | authority = (Cope, 1867) | synonyms = *''Coluber flavirufus'' <br />{{small|Cope, 1867}} *''Natrix flavirufus'' <br />{{small|— Cope, 1887}} *''Elaphe flavirufa'' <br />{{small|— Amaral, 1929}} *''Pseudoelaphe flavirufus'' <br />{{small|— Mertens & Rosenberg, 1943}} *''Pseudelaphe flavirufus'' <br />{{small|— Utiger et al., 2002}} *''Pantherophis flavirufa'' <br />{{small|— Utiger et al., 2002}} *''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' <br />{{small|— Wallach et al., 2014}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=RDB/> }}

The '''yellow-red rat snake''' ('''''Pseudelaphe flavirufa''''') is a species of snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to Mexico and Central America. Three subspecies are recognized.

==Geographic distribution== ''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' is found in the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas. It is also found in the countries Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.<ref name=RDB>{{EMBL species|genus=Pseudelaphe|species=flavirufa}}. www.reptile-database.com.</ref>

==Habitat== The preferred natural habitat of ''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' is forest.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021"/>

==Description== ''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' may attain a total length of {{convert|1.22|m|ft|abbr=on}}, which includes a tail {{convert|26|cm|in|abbr=on}} long. Dorsally, it is yellowish or pale brown with a series of reddish or chestnut-brown spots, which are black-edged and may be confluent into a zigzag stripe. There is an alternating lateral series of smaller spots on each side of the dorsal series. Ventrally, it is yellowish, either plain or with small brown spots.<ref>Boulenger GA (1894). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II. Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I–XX. (''Coluber flavirufus'', p. 39).</ref>

==Reproduction== ''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'' is oviparous.<ref name=RDB/>

==Subspecies== There are three subspecies of ''Pseudelaphe flavirufa'', including the nominotypical subspecies, which are recognized as being valid.<ref name=RDB/> *''Pseudelaphe flavirufa flavirufa'' {{small|(Cope, 1867)}} *''Pseudelaphe flavirufa matudai'' {{small|(H.M. Smith, 1941)}} *''Pseudelaphe flavirufa pardalina'' {{small|(W. Peters, 1869)}}

''Nota bene'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Pseudelaphe''.

==Etymology== The subspecific name, ''matudai'', is in honor of Japanese-Mexican botanist Eizi Matuda.<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}}. (''Pantherophis flavirufa matudai'', p. 171).</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Cope ED (1867). "Fifth Contribution to the Herpetology of Tropical America". ''Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia'' '''18''': 317–323. (Coluber flavirufus, new species, p.&nbsp;319). *Heimes, Peter (2016). ''Snakes of Mexico: Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. I''. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Edition Chimaira. 572 pp. {{ISBN|978-3899731002}}. *{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=J.C. |author1-link=species:Julian C. Lee |title=A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maya World: The Lowlands of Mexico, Northern Guatemala and Belize |date=2000 |publisher=Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=978-0-8014-8587-9}} 416 pp. *Mertens, Robert, Rosenberg, Hans (1943). "Elaphe flavirufa ''(Cope), die mexikanische Nachnatter'' ". ''Wochenschrift für Aquarien- und Terrarienkunde'' '''37''' (3): 60–62. (''Pseudoelaphe flavirufus'', new combination). (in German).

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Category:Pseudelaphe Category:Reptiles described in 1867 Category:Reptiles of Mexico Category:Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope

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