| Higher Taxa | Colubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Siebold's Earth Snake
S: Minadora de Siebold |
| Synonym | Elapoides sieboldii JAN 1862: 21
C(atastoma) sieboldii — COPE 1868: 131
Ninia sieboldi — GARMAN 1884: 96
E(lapoidis) sieboldii — COPE 1885: 386
Geophis sieboldi — SMITH 1941: 4
Geophis sieboldi — LINER 1994
Geophis sieboldi — WILSON & TOWNSEND 2007: 18
Geophis sieboldi — WALLACH et al. 2014: 305
Geophis sieboldi — BARRAGAN-RESÉNDIZ et al. 2022 |
| Distribution | Mexico (Guerrero, Michoacan, Jalisco)
Type locality: “Mexico” and “Guadalupa” [= possibly Guadalupe, Oaxaca, Mexico].
|
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Syntypes: ZSM (1), NMW (1), two deposited in a museum collection in Milan. None are known to be extant (Downs 1967: 171). |
| Diagnosis | Species group: Geophis sieboldi is the founding member of the “sieboldi” group of Geophis, containing G. brachycephalus, dunni, hoffmanni, nasalis, petersi, russatus, sallei, sieboldi, zeledoni, bellus, betaniensis, damiani, pyburni, talamancae, tectus, laticollaris, nigroalbus.
Downs (1967) defined the sieboldi group by the following characters: head moderately distinct from anterior end of body or not; snout long, projecting well beyond lower jaw; eye small to moderate; rostral not produced poste- riorly between internasals; internasals and postnasals short; prefrontals and loreals elon- gate; supraocular forms about posterior half of dorsal margin of orbit; parietals short, broad; no anterior temporal; dorsal scales in 15 or 17 rows, keeled at least above vent; paired apical pits present (apparently absent in G. petersii); ventrals 118–151 in males, 118–154 in females; subcaudals 28–51 in males, 23–43 in females; percentage tail of total length 14.1– 21.2 in males, 11.0–17.6 in females; maxilla extends anteriorly to suture between supra- labials 2 and 3; anterior extension about equal to that of palatine; maxilla dorsoventrally com- pressed; in lateral view, posterior third of maxilla curves ventrally; anterior tip of maxilla toothless (first tooth at tip of maxilla or pre- ceded by a short toothless area in G. zeledoni), pointed; 8–15 maxillary teeth, subequal in length; posterior end of maxilla tapers to blunt point; anterior end of ectopterygoid single, not expanded; postorbital bone narrow [from Pavón-Vázquez et al. 2011].
Diagnosis. Downs 1967: 171
Coloration: Downs 1967: 172. |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in BARRAGAN-RESÉNDIZ et al. 2022: 273 (Fig. 5) |
| Etymology | Named after Dr. Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold (1804-1885), who studied at Universität Berlin and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, becoming a physician who practiced in East Prussia (1831-1834). |
| References |
- Barragán-Reséndiz, Lesly Montserrat, Pavón-Vázquez, Carlos J., Cervantes-Burgos, Romina Itzel, Trujano-Ortega, Marysol, Canseco-Márquez, Luis, et al. 2022. A New Species of Snake of the Geophis sieboldi Group (Squamata: Dipsadidae) from Estado de México, Mexico. Herpetologica 78 (4): 268-276 - get paper here
- Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - 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
- Cope, E.D. 1885. A contribution to the herpetology of Mexico. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 379-404 - get paper here
- Cruz-Sáenz, D., F. J. Muñoz-Nolasco, V. Mata-Silva, J. D. Johnson, E. García-Padilla, and L. D. Wilson. 2017. The herpetofauna of Jalisco, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1): 23–118 - 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
- Garman,Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
- Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
- Jan, G. 1862. Enumerazione sistematico delle specie d'ofidi del gruppo Calamaridae. Arch. Zool., Anat. Fisiol., 2: 1-76. - get paper here
- Jan, G. 1865. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 12. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - get paper here
- Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the State of Mexico, Mexico with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 953: 137-159 - get paper here
- Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Pierce LJS, Painter CW 2020. The amphibians and reptiles of Colima, Mexico, with a summary of their conservation status. ZooKeys 927: 99-125 - get paper here
- Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
- Pavón-Vázquez, Carlos J.; Uri O. García-Vázquez, Jean C. Blancas-Hernández, and Adrián Nieto-Montes de Oca 2011. A New Species of the Geophis sieboldi Group (Squamata: Colubridae) Exhibiting Color Pattern Polymorphism from Guerrero, Mexico. Herpetologica 67 (3): 332-343 - get paper here
- 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
- Smith, Hobart M. 1941. Notes on Mexican snakes of the genus Geophis. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 99 (19): 1-6 - 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
- Wilson,L.D.; McCranie,J.R. & Williams,K.L. 1998. A new species of Geophis of the sieboldi group (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) from northern Honduras. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 111: 410-417 - get paper here
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