Part 7

Distribution.--The Yucatan Peninsula: eastern Campeche, all of Yucatan, probably in Quintana Roo, and the northern third of British Honduras. A record for northeastern Honduras is questioned (fig. 2).

Specimens examined.--Total of 48, as follows: BRITISH HONDURAS: Belize District: 13.0 mi. W, 1.5 mi. S Belize, ERA-WTN BH-1562.

GUATEMALA: El Peten, no specific locality, USNM 4941.

HONDURAS: Colon: Patuca, USNM 20271.

MEXICO: Campeche: Champoton, UMMZ 73063-66; Encarnacion, CNHM 106462. Yucatan: no specific locality, BMNH 80.7.13.30; Chichen Itza, AMNH 38826, 38833, CNHM 20610-11, 26986-87, 36299-300, 36303-04, 36307, 36316, MCZ 7422, 28748, UMMZ 68236, 73060-62, 80806, USNM 46395; Kantunil, CNHM 36301, 36305-06, 36308-09, 36312-13; Libre Union, CNHM 36298, 36302, 36310-11, 36314; Mayapan, CNHM 40720; Merida, CNHM 19411, 19413, NMW 16828; Progreso, CNHM 40721; Tekom, CNHM 49374; Yokdzonot, CNHM 36315.

=Conophis nevermanni= Dunn

Coniophanes imperialis imperialis, Wettstein, Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien. mathem-naturw. Kl., 143:37-38, 1934.

Conophis nevermanni Dunn, Copeia, no. 4:214, December 31, 1937; Smith, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., 92:395, November 5, 1942; Savage, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 50:484, December 31, 1949; Taylor, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 34(pt. 1): 145-146, October 1, 1951.

Type.--Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, no. 22423, obtained by Emmet R. Dunn from Prof. Manuel Valerio. Type locality: Rio Poas de Aserri (a few miles south of San Jose), Costa Rica.

Diagnosis.--Head and body dark brown or black above with two or four white stripes along body; usually two white lines on head immediately above eye passing from canthus rosetralis posteriorly to connect with white stripe on 6th row of dorsal scales; eight supralabials with black margins above.

Variation.--Six specimens have 173 to 183 (176.5 +- 4.00) ventrals. Five of these snakes having complete tails have 71 to 89 (80.6 +- 7.15) subcaudals; the number of ventrals plus subcaudals varies from 250 to 263 (257.0). In the six specimens the reduction from 19 to 17 dorsal scales takes place between ventrals 84 and 97 (93.2 +- 4.71). Sexual dimorphism is evident in the number of subcaudals; two females have 71 and 76 (73.5), and three males have 82 to 89 (85.3) subcaudals. The longest specimen (ANSP 22424) is a female from San Jose, Costa Rica, having a body length of 660 mm., a tail length of 168 mm. and a total length of 828 mm.

The dorsal coloration (fig. 1, E) varies from a black ground-color with two or four narrow white stripes to a dark brown ground-color with a series of black stripes and four white stripes. In the black specimens there are no dark stripes. The darkest specimen (NMW 16838:1) has only two white stripes; these more or less continuous stripes are on the ventral third of the 2nd row of scales and occasionally on the dorsalmost part of the first scale-row. The venter is immaculate white except for black on the tips of the ventral scales. The dorsum above the 2nd scale-row is uniform black. There are no white stripes on the head.

The palest specimen (NMW 16838:2) has four dorsal white stripes; the lateral pair of these stripes is on the ventral half of the 2nd and the dorsal third of the 1st scale-rows; the dorsolateral pair is on the dorsal two-thirds of the 6th and the ventral third of the 7th rows of scales. This latter stripe is the posterior continuation of the white stripe on the head, which originates immediately posterior to the rostral scale and passes posteriorly along the canthus rostralis and along the lateral margin of the supraocular scale to the nape. Posterior to the place of scale reduction, the dorsolateral white stripe is displaced ventrally one scale-row. Except for black flecks or spots on the lateral margins of the ventrals, the venter is immaculate white. The dorsum above the lateral white stripes is brown and black; there is a pair of dorsolateral white stripes. The dorsal half of the 2nd, most of the 3rd, 4th and 5th rows of scales are black; the dorsal margin of the 3rd, both margins of the 4th, and the ventral margin of the 5th rows are paler brown. The dorsal two-thirds of the 7th, all but the dorsal most part of the 8th, and the middle two-thirds of the 10th scale-rows are black; the areas between are a medium brown.

Only six specimens are available on which to base a description of the variation in this species. Furthermore, there are no juveniles, notes on the colors of living individuals, or photographs of this species.

Remarks.--Taylor (1955:563-565) hesitantly referred a specimen (KU 35630) from 32 kilometers north of Barranca, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica, to Conophis lineatus nevermanni. This specimen, a female, has 169 ventrals and ventral scale-reduction taking place opposite the 109th ventral; both of these characters are well out of the range of C. nevermanni. Furthermore, the ventral margins of the supralabials are brown, and the pale dorsal stripes are tan and too wide for C. nevermanni (compare figs. 1, C and E). The specimen definitely is C. lineatus dunni, and corresponds well with another specimen from Costa Rica (ANSP 12232).

The dark brown or black dorsum with two or four white stripes and the presence of eight supralabials having dark brown dorsal margins, in combination with the characters of the genus, serve to distinguish Conophis nevermanni from other Central American snakes.

Distribution.--Pacific coastal plain of northwestern Costa Rica and the Meseta Central of central Costa Rica (fig. 4).

Specimens examined.--Total of six, as follows: COSTA RICA: Guanacaste: Bebedero, Rio Tenorio, NMW 16838(5). "San Jose," ANSP 22424.

=Conophis pulcher= Cope

Tomodon lineatus (in part), Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 28:455, 1860.

Conophis pulcher Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 20(5):308, 1869; Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, ser. 2, 8:137, 1876; Bocourt in Dumeril, Bocourt and Mocquard, Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale, 2:646-648, pl. 38, fig. 6, 1886; Ferrai-Perez, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., p. 196, September 28, 1886; Cope, Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., 32:77, 1887; Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., 18:194, April 15, 1895; Ann. Rept. U. S. Natl. Mus. for 1898, p. 1095, 1900; Alvarez del Toro, Reptiles de Chiapas, pp. 154-155, 1960.

Tomodon pulcher, Bocourt, Journ. de Zool., p. 408, 1876.

Conophis pulcher var. similis Bocourt in Dumeril, Bocourt and Mocquard, Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amerique Centrale, 2:647-648, pl. 38, fig. 6, 1886 [Type.--Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, no. 6090; type locality.--unknown, restricted to Tonala, Chiapas, by Smith and Taylor (1950:326)].

Conophis lineatus, Guenther, Biologia Centrali-Americana, p. 165, March, 1895; Boulenger, Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), 3:122-123, 1896; Stuart, Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 292:5, June 29, 1934; Slevin, Proc. California Acad. Sci. 4th Ser., 23:409, December 29, 1939.

Conophis pulcher pulcher, Smith, Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., 31:121, March 15, 1941; Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., 92:395, November 5, 1942; Stuart, Contr. Lab. Vert. Biol. Univ. Michigan, 65:19-20 (part), March, 1954; Contr. Lab. Vert. Biol. Univ. Michigan, 68:63, November, 1954; Cochran, Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., 220:167, 1961.

Conophis pulcher plagosus Smith, Journ. Washington Acad. Sci. 31:121-122, March 15, 1941 (Type.--United States National Museum, no. 109707; type locality: Tonala, Chiapas); Smith and Taylor, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33(pt. 2):326, March 20, 1950; Stuart, Contr. Lab. Vert. Biol. Univ. Michigan, 65:19-20, March, 1954; Cochran, Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., 220:167, 1961.

Conophis pulcher similis, Smith, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., 92:395, November 5, 1942; Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., 93:408, October 29, 1943; Smith and Taylor, Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus., 187:43-44, October 5, 1945; Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33(pt. 2):43-44, March 20, 1950; Maldonado-Koerdell, Inst. Mexicanos Recursos Nat. Renov. pp. 132-133, 1953.

Types.--Three in the United States National Museum, nos. 6751 (2 specimens) and 6803, obtained by Henery Hague. Type locality: "Peten," or "Verapaz," Guatemala. There is much doubt about localities for many of Hague's specimens collected in the 1860's (Stuart, 1948:10). Since Conophis pulcher is found predominantly in semi-arid environments, the types might have come from the semi-arid Cahabon, Negro, or Salama river basins--all places near the sugar plantation that Hague managed at San Jeronimo, Baja Verapaz. Possibly the types were obtained from as far away as the Motagua Valley or the southeastern highlands of Guatemala, both of which areas Hague is known to have visited.