Geophis nigroalbus Boulenger

Wilson, Larry David & Townsend, Josiah H., 2007, A checklist and key to the snakes of the genus Geophis (Squamata: Colubridae: Dipsadinae), with commentary on distribution and conservation, Zootaxa 1395, pp. 1-31 : 15

32. Geophis nigroalbus Boulenger

Geophis nigro­albus Boulenger 1908: 552.

Catastoma nigroalbum: Amaral 1929: 192 .

Geophis brachycephalus: Downs 1967: 146 . Geophis negroalbus: Myers 2003: 32 . Lapsus .

Holotype. The Natural History Museum, London ( BMNH) 1946.1.6.50 (formerly BMNH 1909.4.30.71), juvenile, collected by N.G. Palmer, purchased from Rosenberg.

Type­locality. Near Pavas, Valle, Colombia.

Distribution. Reported from 900­1700 m elevation in Antioquia, Santander, and Valle de Cauca, Colombia.

Species group. sieboldi ( Downs 1967) .

Systematic references. Boulenger (1908), Downs (1967), Restrepo & Wright (1987), Myers (2003).

Remarks. Downs (1967) placed G. nigroalbus in synonymy with G. brachycephalus , but in a footnote on p. 146 stated: “A cursory look at a specimen recently obtained in eastern Panama by Charles Myers leads me to doubt that my inclusion of G. nigroalbus Boulenger in the synonymy of G. brachycephalus is justified.” Restrepo & Wright (1987:193) applied the name G. nigroalbus to more recent material from Colombia based on this footnote. The specimen that Downs (1967:146) referred to was the then­undescribed Geophis bellus Myers , and later Myers (2003: 34) tentatively assigned two additional Colombian specimens previously referred to as G. brachycephalus to G. nigroalbus , noting “I have seen too few Colombian specimens to be able to fully characterize Geophis nigroalbus , or even to conclude that but a single species is represented.”