Taxonomic summary of Conopsis, Günther, 1858 (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Abstract

The colubrid snake genus Conopsis is distributed in mainland Mexico. The taxonomic history of this genus is complex and recently organisms under the genus Toluca have been synonimized with Conopsis. Here we present the nomenclatural history, morphological variation, distribution and a dichotomous key for the genus Conopsis. Species characterizations are based on a previous cladistic analysis of molecular and morphological characters. We recognize six valid species: C. acuta n. comb., C. amphisticha, C. biserialis, C. lineata, C. megalodon and C. nasus.