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Geophis brachycephalus (COPE, 1871)

IUCN Red List - Geophis brachycephalus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Costa Rican Earth Snake 
SynonymColobognathus brachycephalus COPE 1871: 211
Colobognathus dolichocephalus COPE 1871: 211
Geophis moestus GÜNTHER 1872: 15
Catastoma chalybaeum — GÜNTHER 1872: 16
Catostoma brachycephalum — COPE 1876: 147
Catostoma dolichocephalum — COPE 1876: 147
E(lapoidis) dolichocephalus — COPE 1885: 386
E(lapoidis) brachycephalus — COPE 1885: 386
Rhabdosoma moestum — COPE 1887: 85
Geophis chalybaea quadrangularis — GÜNTHER 1893: 87
Geophis dolichocephalus — GÜNTHER 1893: 87
Geophis moesta — GÜNTHER 1893: 90
Dirosema brachycephalum — BOULENGER 1894: 299
Geophis hoffmanni — BOULENGER 1894: 319
Catostoma brachycephalum — AMARAL 1929: 191
Geophis chalcybaea — GÜNTHER 1893
Geophis brachycephala — SLEVIN 1942: 474
Geophis brachycephalus — DUNN 1942 (part.)
Geophis dolichocephala — TAYLOR 1951: 43
Geophis brachycephala — TAYLOR 1951: 46
Geophis moestus — TAYLOR 1954: 688
Geophis bakeri TAYLOR 1954: 689
Geophis brachycephalus — DOWNS 1967: 146
Geophis brachycephalus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 119
Geophis brachycephalus — MYERS 2003
Geophis brachycephalus — WILSON & TOWNSEND 2007: 6
Geophis brachycephalus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 300
Geophis aff. brachycephalus — BATISTA et al. 2020 
DistributionCosta Rica, W Panama, 13–2115 m elevation (see SAVAGE & WATLING 2008 for details)

Type locality: Costa Rica, San José: San José, 1160 m elevation.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 3337, juvenile male (Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia), collected by Van Patten.
Holotype: ANSP 3306; Costa Rica, San Jose [dolichocephalus]
Holotype: KU 31983 [bakeri] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This species is characterized by having the following combination of features: (1) ventrals in males 129–140.0 ± 4.2–149, in females 136–141.7 ± 2.5–147; subcaudals in males 35–39.6 ± 3.4–48, in females 29–33.5 ± 2.2–39; ventrals plus subcaudals in males 171–179.6 ± 4.5–190, in females 169–175.3 ± 3.2–181; (2) uniform black dorsum and upper surface of tail or with red longitudinal stripes that may be fragmented by suffusions of dark pigment or with a blotched/banded pattern on at least the posterior three-quarters of the body that continues onto the upper surface of the tail; (3) hemipenes slightly bilobed, capitulum moderately long but slender, about 2.5 times length of truncus on asulcate side. 
CommentGeophis nigroalbus BOULENGER 1908 has been removed from the synonymy of G. brachycephalus. Does not occur in Colombia fide WILSON & TOWNSEND 2007. 
EtymologyNamed after Greek brachys (βραχύς), short + Greek kéfali (κεφάλη), head. [“...Head flat; rather wide behind, and distinct from neck...”]. 
References
  • Acosta-Chaves, Víctor J.; Gerardo Chaves, Juan G. Abarca, Adrián García-Rodríguez, Federico Bolaños 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Río Macho Biological Station, Provincia de Cartago, Costa Rica. Check List 11 (6): 1784 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Batista A, Mebert K, Miranda M, Garcés O, Fuentes R, Ponce M. 2020. Endemism on a threatened sky island: new and rare species of herpetofauna from Cerro Chucantí, Eastern Panama. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(2) [General Section]: 27–46 (e237) - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1871. Ninth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 23: 200-224 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1875. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica with notes on the herpetology and ichthyology of Nicaragua and Peru. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia N.S. (2) 8: 93-183 [sometimes said to be published 1876 but see Murphy et al. 2007 for clarification]] - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1885. A contribution to the herpetology of Mexico. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 379-404 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1887. Catalogue of batrachians and reptiles of Central America and México. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 32: 7-98 - 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
  • Dunn, Emmett Reid 1942. New or Noteworthy Snakes from Panama. Notulae Naturae 108:1-8.
  • 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
  • Günther,A. 1872. Seventh account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 9: 13-37 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Köhler, Gunther, Joseph Vargas, Johannes J. Köhler and Milan Vesel´y. 2013. Noteworthy distributional records of amphibians and reptiles from Costa Rica. Herpetological Review 44 (2): 280-283 - get paper here
  • Lips K R. Savage J M. 1994. A new fossorial snake of the genus Geophis (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Cordillera de Talamanca of Costa Rica. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 107 (2): 410-416. - get paper here
  • MURPHY R. W., SMITH A. and NGO A. 2007. The versions of Cope's Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 7 (1): - get paper here
  • Myers, C.W. 2003. Rare Snakes—Five New Species from Eastern Panama: Reviews of Northern Atractus and Southern Geophis (Colubridae: Dipsadinae). American Museum Novitates 3391: 1-47 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pizzatto, Lígia; Maurício Cantor, Juliana Lima de Oliveira, Otavio A.V. Marques, Vinicius Capovilla, and Marcio Martins 2008. Reproductive Ecology of Dipsadine Snakes, With Emphasis on South American Species. Herpetologica 64 (2): 168-179 - get paper here
  • Ray, Julie M. and Patty Ruback 2015. Updated checklists of snakes for the provinces of Panamá and Panamá Oeste, Republic of Panama. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (2): 168-188 - get paper here
  • Restrepo T J H; Wright J W 1987. A new species of the colubrid snake genus Geophis from Colombia. Journal of Herpetology 21 (3): 191-196 - get paper here
  • Sasa M. 1993. Distribution and reproduction of the gray earth snake Geophis brachycephalus (Serpentes: Colubridae) in Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical 41 (2): 95- 297. - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • Savage, Jay M.; Watling, James I. 2008. Not so rare snakes: a revision of the Geophis sieboldi group (Colubridae: Dipsadinae) in lower Central America and Colombia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 153(3):561-599 - get paper here
  • Slevin, J.R. 1942. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Boquete, Panama, with the description of a new species of Hydromorphus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 23: 463-480 - get paper here
  • Solorzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica - Snakes of Costa Rica. Editorial INBio, Costa Rica, 792 pp.
  • Taylor,E.H. 1954. Further studies on the serpents of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 36: 673-800. - 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
 
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