''Geophis pyburni'', also known as Pyburn's earth snake, is a species of

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

in the

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

family. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is only known from its type locality, Rancho La Pastilla in the Sierra de Coalcoman, Michoacan.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''pyburni'', is in honor of American herpetologist (1927–2007).

Description

''Geophis pyburni'' measure in total length. Tail makes 13–16 % of the total length. The dorsum is dark brown, becoming lighter laterally.

References

Geophis Snakes of North America Endemic reptiles of Mexico Reptiles described in 1977 Taxa named by Jonathan A. Campbell {{Colubrid-stub