NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Short-faced snail eater
Dipsas brevifacies (Cope, 1866)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Snail-eating Thirst Snake (Dipsas brevifacies)
Diana Fuentes · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Dipsas brevifacies, the snail-eating thirst snake or short-faced snail-eater, is a non-venomous snake found in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Its length for male is approximately 373 mm and for female 357 mm, (minimum 131 mm). They are oviparous in nature.
Wikipedia contributors, Dipsas brevifacies; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:35:59.177065+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Dipsas brevifacies (Cope, 1866)
- Name authority
- (Cope, 1866)
- Common name
- Short-faced snail eater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Dipsas
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyDipsadinae
- genusDipsas
- speciesDipsas brevifacies (Cope, 1866)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Dipsas. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| American Snail-eaterDipsas articulata (Cope, 1868) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neotropical Snail-eaterDipsas bucephala (Shaw, 1802) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Catesby's Snail-eaterDipsas catesbyi (Sentzen, 1796) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dipsas chaparensis Reynolds & Foster, 1992 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dipsas copei (Günther, 1872) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dipsas ellipsifera (Boulenger, 1898) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Graceful Snail-eaterDipsas gracilis (Boulenger, 1902) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Jan's Snail-eaterDipsas incerta (Jan, 1863) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Werner's Thirst SnakeDipsas maxillaris (Werner, 1910) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Variegated Snail-eaterDipsas variegata (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Vermiculate Snail-eaterDipsas vermiculata Peters, 1960 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tropical Snail-eaterDipsas sanctijoannis (Boulenger, 1911) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Leptognathus torquatus Cope, 1885 Cope, 1885 | synonym |
| Tropidodipsas brevifacies Cope, 1866 Cope, 1866 | synonym |
| Dipsadomorus fasciatus Bocourt, 1884 Bocourt, 1884 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Dipsas&species=brevifacies Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:36QBN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.