You are here » home › advanced search › Geophis rhodogaster

Geophis rhodogaster (COPE, 1868)

IUCN Red List - Geophis rhodogaster - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Geophis rhodogaster?

Add your own observation of
Geophis rhodogaster »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rosebelly Earth Snake
S: Minadora de Vientre Rosado 
SynonymColophrys rhodogaster COPE 1868: 130
Geophis rhodogaster — BOCOURT 1883: 531
Geophis chalybaea — GÜNTHER 1893: 87
Catastoma rhodogaster — AMARAL 1929: 192
Geophis rhodogaster — DOWNS 1967: 92
Geophis rhodogaster — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 120
Geophis rhodogaster — VILLA et al. 1988
Geophis fulvoguttatus — KÖHLER 1996: 36 (in error)
Geophis rhodogaster — WILSON & TOWNSEND 2007: 16
Geophis rhodogaster — WALLACH et al. 2014: 304 
DistributionMexico (Chiapas), Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, 1500-2744 m elevation

Type locality: elevated country in the neighborhood of the city of Guatemala.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: ANSP 3317, designated by Downs 1967: 93;
paralectotypes: ANSP 3316, USNM 12425. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Geophis rhodogaster can be distinguished from G. damiani and G.hoffmanni by having 17 dorsal scale rows (15 dorsal scale rows in the aforementioned species). Geophis rhodogaster is differentiated from the remaining species with 17 dorsal scale rows (G. dunni, G. fulvoguttatus, and G. nephodrymus) by always lacking a supraocular scale and having the frontal contacting the orbit on both sides of the head(supraocular always present on at least one side of the head in G. dunni and G. fulvoguttatus, and always present on both sides or fused to the postocular in G. nephodrymus; frontal not contacting orbit on both sides in all three species).


Additional details (54 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentNot listed in LINER 1994.

Distribution: see map in CANSECO-MÁRQUEZ et al. 2016: 133 (Fig. 1). Günther’s (1893) reports of G. rhodogaster from Costa Rica have been questioned by Taylor (1951) and others. Köhler (1996) gave measurements and scutellation data for a specimen of G. rhodogaster (SMF 77413) under the name G. fulvoguttatus. Not in Yucatan state (Mexico), fide Gonzalez-Sanchez et al. 2017. 
EtymologyApparently named after Greek rhodon (a rose, hence red) and gaster (belly), in allusion to the reddish venter of the species. 
References
  • Amaral,A. do 1930. Estudos sobre ophidios neotropicos XVIII. Lista remissiva dos ophidios da região neotropica. Mem. Inst. Butantan 4: 126-271 [1929] - get paper here
  • Bocourt, M. F. 1883. In A. Duméril, M. F. Bocourt, and F. Mocquard, (1870-1909), Etudes sur les reptiles, p. i-xiv, 1-1012. In Recherches Zoologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de Ia Faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amér Imprimerie Impériale, Paris - get paper here
  • Canseco-Márquez L, Pavón-Vázquez CJ, López-Luna MA, Nieto-Montes de Oca A 2016. A new species of earth snake (Dipsadidae, Geophis) from Mexico. ZooKeys 610: 131-145. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.610.8605 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1868. An examination of the Reptilia and Batrachia obtained by the Orton Expedition to Equador and the Upper Amazon, with notes on other species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 96-140 - get paper here
  • Downs, F. L. 1967. lntrageneric relations among colubrid snakes of the genus Geophis Wagler. Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan 131: 1-193. - get paper here
  • Goldberg, Stephen R. 2015. Geophis rhodogaster (rosebelly earth snake) reproduction. Herpetological Review 46 (4): 644 - get paper here
  • Guerra Centeno, Dennis; Héctor Fuentes Rousselin & David Morán Villatoro 2012. Serpientes de Guatemala: Guía para didentificación de especies. Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 186 pp.
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Johnson, Jerry D.; Vicente Mata-Silva, Elí García Padilla, and Larry David Wilson 2015. The Herpetofauna of Chiapas, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (3): 272–329. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 1996. Notes on a collection of reptiles from El Salvador collected between 1951 and 1956. Senckenbergiana biologica 76 (1/2): 29-38
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Liner, E.A. 1994. Scientific and common names for the Amphibians and Reptiles of Mexico in English and Spanish. Herpetological Circular 23: 1-113
  • McCranie J R 2011. The snakes of Honduras. SSAR, Salt Lake City, 725 pp.
  • McCranie, James R. 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with additions, comments on taxonomy, some recent taxonomic decisions, and areas of further studies needed. Zootaxa 3931 (3): 352–386 - get paper here
  • McCranie, James R. and Franklin E. Castañeda 2007. The colubrid snake Geophis rhodogaster (Cope) in Honduras. Herpetological Bulletin 99: 19. - get paper here
  • Smith E N. 1995. Geophis rhodogaster (Colubridae), an addition to the snake fauna of Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist. 1995. vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 123-124. - get paper here
  • Solís, J. M., L. D. Wilson, and J. H. Townsend. 2014. An updated list of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with comments on their nomenclature. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 123–144 - get paper here
  • Stuart, L.C. 1951. The herpetofauna of the Guatemalan Plateau, with special reference to its distribution on the Southwestern Highlands. Contributions from the Laboratory of Vertebrate Biology, University of Michigan (49): 1-71 - get paper here
  • Taylor,E.H. 1951. A brief review ot the snakes of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 34 (1): 3-188 - get paper here
  • Townsend, J. H. 2006. INVENTORY AND CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT OF THE HERPETOFAUNA OF THE SIERRA DE OMOA, HONDURAS, WITH A REVIEW OF THE Geophis (SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE) OF EASTERN NUCLEAR CENTRAL AMERICA. PhD thesis, University of Florida, 138 pp.
  • Townsend, J.H.; Wilson, L.D. 2006. A new species of snake of the Geophis dubius group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) from the sierra de Omoa of northwestern Honduras. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 119 (1): 150–159. - get paper here
  • Townsend, Josiah H. 2009. MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION IN GEOPHIS NEPHODRYMUS (SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE), WITH COMMENTS ON CONSERVATION OF GEOPHIS IN EASTERN NUCLEAR CENTRAL AMERICA. Herpetologica 65 (3): 292-302 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • WILSON, L.D. & J.H. TOWNSEND 2007. A checklist and key to the snakes of the genus Geophis (Squamata: Colubridae: Dipsadinae), with commentary on distribution and conservation. Zootaxa 1395: 1-31 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator