Geophis talamancae, LIPS & SAVAGE, 1994

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), pp. 561-599 : 584-585

GEOPHIS TALAMANCAE LIPS & SAVAGE, 1994

Geophis brachycephalus, Slevin, 1942: 474 (in part); Dunn, 1942: 4 (in part); Downs, 1967: 146 (in part); Savage, 2002: 604 (in part); Myers, 2003: 38 (in part); Solórzano, 2004: 276 (in part).

Geophis talamancae Lips & Savage, 1994: 410 , fig. 1 (Type locality: Costa Rica: Puntarenas: Coto Brus, Sitio Las Tablas: Finca Jaguar, 1800 m; Holotype: LACM 147196, a subadult female); Savage, 2002: 602; Solórzano, 2004: 290, fig. 82.

Diagnostics: Unique within the Geophis brachycephalus complex in having the following combination of characters: (1) 118–124.9 ± 3.7–132 ventrals in male, 121–128.8 ± 4.4–139 in females; 35–38.1 ± 1.4–41 subcaudals in males, 23–33.4 ± 2.3–38 in females; 154–163.2 ± 4.0–171 total segmentals in males, 155– 161.7 ± 3.9–171 in females; (2) upper surfaces of body and tail uniform black or anterior body uniform black and rest of body black with pairs of red spots that are usually offset and sometimes fused to form elongate blotches; tail black above; (3) hemipenis slightly bilobed with short, robust capitulum that is about twice length of truncus on asulcate side (Myers, 2003).

Distribution: Tropical premontane wet forest and rainforest and lower montane rainforest on the Pacific slope of the Cordillera Talamanca-Barú in extreme south-western Costa Rica and adjacent western Panama, 1200–1800 m ( Figs 14 , 15 ).

Figures

Figure 14. Geographical distribution of two species of Geophis in Costa Rica.

Figure 15. Geographical distribution of three species of Geophis in western Panama. Geophis tectus sp. nov. is virtually sympatric with G. brachycephalus in the upper Río Chirripó drainage and with G. talamancae near Boquete.