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Conophis lineatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)

IUCN Red List - Conophis lineatus - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesConophis lineatus concolor (COPE 1867)
Conophis lineatus lineatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854) 
Common NamesE: Road Guarder
G: Streifennatter
S: Guarda Caminos Centroamericana 
SynonymLygophis lineatus LINNAEUS 1758
Tomodon lineatum DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 936
Conophis pulcher COPE 1869: 308
Conophis lineatus — COPE 1871: 8
Tachymenis lineata — GARMAN 1884: 60
Conophis pulcher var. similis BOCOURT 1886: 647
Liophis decoratus — DITMARS 1934 (fide VILLA et al. 1988)
Conophis concolor — SCHMIDT & ANDREWS 1936 (fide VILLA et al. 1988)
Lygophis lineatus — DUNN 1940: 118
Conophis pulcher plagosus SMITH 1941: 121
Conophis lineatus lineatus — SMITH 1941: 122
Conophis lineatus similis SMITH 1941: 123 (preoccupied by BOCOURT 1886)
Conophis lineatus dunni SMITH 1942: 395 (nom. subst.)
Conophis lineatus lineatus — SHANNON & SMITH 1949
Conophis pulcher plagosus — MERTENS 1952: 62
Conophis nevermanni — TAYLOR 1955 (fide VILLA et al. 1988)
Conophis lineatus dunni — NEILL & ALLEN 1959: 56
Conophis lineatus — WELLMAN 1963: 262
Conophis lineatus dunni — WELLMAN 1963: 262
Conophis lineatus dunni — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70
Conophis lineatus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 69
Conophis pulcher — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70
Conophis pulcher — VILLA et al. 1988
Conophis lineatus — WILSON & MEYER (fide VILLA et al. 1988)
Conophis pulcher — LINER 1994
Conophis lineatus — LINER 1994
Conophis lineatus — SAVAGE 2002
Conophis lineatus — KÖHLER 2008: 212
Conophis lineata — LEMOS-ESPINAL & SMITH 2015
Conophis lineatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 180
Conophis lineatus — MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA et al. 2024

Conophis lineatus concolor COPE 1867
Conophis concolor COPE 1867: 318
Conophis lineaticeps COPE 1900: 1094
Conophis lineatus concolor — BARBOUR & COLE 1906: 153
Conophis concolor — SCHMIDT & ANDREWS 1936
Conophis concolor — SMITH 1939
Conophis lineatus concolor — SMITH 1941: 122
Conophis lineatus concolor — WELLMAN 1963: 270
Conophis lineatus concolor — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 70
Conophis concolor — PEREZ-HIGAREDA et al. 2002 
DistributionMexico (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatan, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, Tabasco [HR 35: 82]), Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica [Villa et al.] El Salvador ?, Colombia [Castro,F. (pers. comm.)], refuted by AUTH et al. 1998, who states that Liophis lineatus has been misidentified as Conophis.

lineatus: Type locality: Mexico.

concolor: Mexico; Type locality: Yucatan, Mexico.

pulcher (invalid): Mexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, El Salvador  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 3738
Holotype: USNM 12368 [concolor]
Syntypes: USNM 6751, 6803 [pulcher]
Holotype: USNM 79963 [Conophis lineatus dunni]
Holotype: USNM 109707 [Conophis pulcher plagosus] 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: This species has six to eleven dark longitudinal stripes usually alternating with six or more white or tan areas (or stripes) and has at most the lower one-third of the supralabials brown. The pattern combined with a dorsal scale row formula of 19-19-17 will distinguish this snake from all others in Costa Rica (Savage 2002: 585).


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CommentSynonymy partly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Neither Köhler 2008 nor Wallach et al. 2014 recognize C. (l.) concolor and the latter synonymizes C. l. dunni with lineatus.

Mildly venomous (J.D. Goodman, pers. comm.)

Distribution: Not listed in Liner 2007 for Mexico. Not in Panama fide S. LOTZKAT (pers. comm., 23 Dec 2015). Not in Querétaro fide Tepos-Ramírez M et al. (2023).

SIMILAR SPECIES: (1) striped Rhadinaea (R. calligaster, R. godmani, and R. serperaster) superficially resemble this form but have the supralabial borders and upper margins marked with dark pigment. (2) Coniophanes bipunctatus has two rows of large conspicuous dark spots on the ventrals. (3) Coniophanes fissidens has two or three dark longitudinal stripes. (4) Juveniles of Crisantophis nevermanni have dark markings on the upper portion of the supralabials (Savage 2002: 585). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “linea”, meaning stripe or line.
C. pulcher has been named after Latin “pulcher” = beautiful, handsome, fine, fair. 
References
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