A NEW SPECIES OF CONIOPHANES (SQUAMATA: COLUBRIDAE), FROM THE COAST OF MICHOACA ´ N, MEXICO OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 1 AND ERIC N. SMITH 2,3 1 Museo de Zoologı ´a, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, A.P. 70-399 Me ´xico D.F. 04510, Me ´xico 2 Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA ABSTRACT: We describe a new species of colubrid snake of the genus Coniophanes from the Pacific coast of Michoaca ´n, Mexico. This species is known from a single adult female collected near sea level in dry deciduous forests. The new species is most similar to C. piceivittis, C. schmidti and C. taylori. It shares with these three species 25 scale rows at midbody, a small sub-preocular scale, and a pattern of three dark brown stripes over a pale brown body. The new species differs most noticeably from the other three in possessing a narrower dark vertebral stripe. Coniophanes p. taylori is elevated to a species status, therefore the C. piceivittis group consists of four species. Key words: Colubridae; Coniophanes michoacanensis; Mexico; Michoaca ´n; New species THE OPISTOGLYPHOUS snakes of the genus Coniophanes (Colubridae: Xenodontinae) are distributed throughout Mesoamerica, from southern Texas on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and from southern Sinaloa on the Pacific coast to Pacific Ecuador and Peru in South America. The genus contains 13 species arranged in six species groups, according to Bailey (1939), Campbell (1989), Myers (1969), and Ponce-Campos and Smith (2001). These groups are: the Coniophanes bipunctatus group (C. bipunctatus and C. quinquevitta- tus), the C. dromiciformis group (C. dromici- formis and C. joanae), the C. fissidens group (C. alvarezi and C. fissidens), the C. imperialis group (C. imperialis and C. meridanus), the C. lateritius group (C. lateritius, C. melano- cephalus, C. sarae), and the C. piceivittis group (C. piceivittis and C. schmidti). During a herpetological survey of the ‘‘El Farito’’ sea-turtle nesting beach near Caleta de Campos, Municipality of Aquila, Michoa- ca ´n, Mexico in 1991–1992 (Vargas-Santamarı´a and Flores-Villela, 2006), one of us (OFV) collected a single specimen of Coniophanes. The specimen was assigned to C. piceivittis by Vargas-Santamarı´a and Flores-Villela (2006). More recent collections in the area by the authors and other herpetologists have re- vealed no additional material assignable to this species. The distinctive morphology of the above specimen, the inability to secure additional material for over eight years, and the geographically disjunct locality from where it was taken with respect to its closest relatives urge us to describe it as a new species. We also present evidence for the specific recognition of C. p. taylori (Hall, 1951). MATERIALS AND METHODS Terminology and characters included in the diagnosis and description follow the format of Campbell (1989) and citations therein. Sex and maturity of the holotype were confirmed by dissection, which revealed gonads and oviduct distension and development. Head and scale measurements were taken using digital cali- pers, and were rounded to the nearest 0.1 mm. Body and tail measurements were taken with a metal ruler. The color description of the holotype in life was based on an electronic image from a color transparency of the freshly euthanized animal prior to fixation. This image is deposited at the UTA Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center Digital Collection (UTADC). Comparisons to other species were made directly (see specimens examined in Appendix I) and with data presented in literature (viz., Bailey, 1939; Campbell, 1989, 1998; Harrison, 1992; Lee, 1996). SYSTEMATICS Coniophanes michoacanensis sp. nov. Figs. 1–3 Coniophanes piceivittis —Vargas Santamarı´a and Flores-Villela, 2006 3 CORRESPONDENCE: e-mail, e.smith@uta.edu Herpetologica, 65(4), 2009, 404–412 E 2009 by The Herpetologists’ League, Inc. 404