Conopsis megalodon (TAYLOR & SMITH, 1942)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Conopsis megalodon?
Conopsis megalodon
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: San Felipe Ground Snake S: Toluqueña de Carlos San Felipe |
| Synonym | Toluca megalodon TAYLOR & SMITH 1942 Toluca megalodon — LINER 1994 Toluca conica TAYLOR & SMITH 1942 Toluca conica — LINER 1994 Conopsis conica — GOYENECHEA & FLORES-VILLELA 2002 Conopsis megalodon — GOYENECHEA & FLORES-VILLELA 2002 Conophis conica — CASAS-ANDREU et al. 2004: 387 (in error) Conopsis megalodon — GOYENECHEA & FLORES-VILLELA 2006 Conopsis megalodon — WALLACH et al. 2014: 181 |
| Distribution | Mexico (Sierra Madre del Sur in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca), elevation from 1730 to 3200 m. conica: Mexico (Guerrero, Oaxaca) Type locality: Cerro San Felipe, Oaxaca. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: INHS (= UIMNH) 25077 (23540), formerly EHT-HMS 23640; (fide PHILLIPS 2003) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This snake is characterized by the following combination of characters: fused prefrontals and internasals; 3 upper labials before eye; brown or reddish dorsal coloration with a vertebral line of hexagonal spots, and tessellated sides. Ventrally it is yellowish with no spots or marks. It differs from C. nasus, the only species with which it could be mistaken, by the reddish-brown dorsal coloration, its smaller body size (SVL: 107–250 mm in C. megalodon, and 100–320 mm in C. nasus), and by its distributional range, restricted to the highlands of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca, which does not overlap with C. nasus. |
| Comment | Toluca has been synonymized with Conopsis (Goyenechea & Flores 2002). Toluca conica has been synonymized with C. megalodon by GOYENECHEA & FLORES-VILLELA 2006. |
| Etymology | Named after Greek megálos (μεγάλος), big, great + Greek odon (ὀδών), tooth. [“...posterior maxillary teeth very greatly enlarged, with a deep groove the length of tooth...”]. |
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