A New Snake of the Genus Geophis From Chihuahua, Mexico

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch, Robert W. Wilson
Volume 11, No. 4, pp. 327-334 Published January 28, 1959
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED IN THE STATE PRINTING PLANT TOPEKA, KANSAS 1959
A New Snake of the Genus Geophis From Chihuahua, Mexico
JOHN M. LEGLER
In July, 1957, members of a field party from the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, under the direction of Mr. Sydney Anderson, spent 12 days collecting vertebrates in the vicinity of Creel in southwestern Chihuahua. Among the specimens are two snakes representing an undescribed species of the genus Geophis . A description and illustrations of these two specimens were prepared and submitted for publication in the spring of 1958. At that time it came to my attention that Dr. Norman Hartweg, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, was also preparing a report on four specimens of the same species from two additional localities in southwestern Chihuahua. Upon learning of my work on the species, Dr. Hartweg generously loaned me his specimens and notes and allowed me to incorporate them in the present report. The snakes may be known and described as:
Geophis aquilonaris new species
Holotype. —Adult female, KU 44265, alcoholic; 23 mi. S and 1½ mi. E Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico; 23 July 1957; original number 198, Ronald H. Pine.
Paratypes. —(Total of five alcoholic specimens, all from Chihuahua) Male (probably subadult), KU 44266, same data as holotype; male, UMMZ 117770, Mojarachic, 23 July 1957, Irving W. Knobloch; females, UMMZ 111501-2, Maguarachic, August 1954, and UMMZ 117771, Maguarachic, August 1957, Irving W. Knobloch.
Diagnosis. —Size small; 15 rows of smooth scales; a high number of ventral (173 to 183) and subcaudal (55 to 64) scales; alternating dark and pale rings on body and tail; dark rings, and often pale rings, complete.