NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Dunn's Earth Snake
Geophis dunni Schmidt, 1932
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Geophis dunni, Dunn's earth snake, is a species of enigmatic snake in the family Colubridae. The species is presumably endemic to Nicaragua and is only known from a single specimen discovered in 1932. This specimen, the holotype, was discovered by Karl Patterson Schmidt in the stomach of a Central American coral snake, and no additional specimen has been seen since. The holotype has a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 310 mm (12 in), a tail length of 57 mm (2.2 in), and a total length of 367 mm (14.4 in). It is part of the Geophis sieboldi species group according to Floyd Leslie Downs. This species was named by Schmidt after fellow herpetologist Emmett Reid Dunn "in allusion to his important contributions to our knowledge of this group of snakes". This species is little known for several reasons. Snakes of the genus Geophis are fossorial and nocturnal, and as such are rarely observed in their natural habitat even by those actively searching for them.
Wikipedia contributors, Geophis dunni; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:14:07.027824+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Geophis dunni Schmidt, 1932
- Name authority
- Schmidt, 1932
- Common name
- Dunn's Earth Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Geophis
- 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
- genusGeophis
- speciesGeophis dunni Schmidt, 1932
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Geophis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Geophis bellus Myers, 2003 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Costa Rican Earth SnakeGeophis brachycephalus (Cope, 1871) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chiapas Earth SnakeGeophis cancellatus Smith, 1941 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Geophis damiani Wilson, Mccranie & Williams, 1998 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Godman's Earth SnakeGeophis godmani Boulenger, 1894 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hoffmann's Earth SnakeGeophis hoffmanni (Peters, 1859) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sierra Coalcoman Earth SnakeGeophis incomptus Duellman, 1959 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Isthmian Earth SnakeGeophis isthmicus (Boulenger, 1894) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Benito Juarez's Earth SnakeGeophis juarezi Nieto-Montes de Oca, 2003 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Zurtuche's Earth SnakeGeophis juliai Pérez-Higareda, Smith & López-Luna, 2001 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mesa Central Earth SnakeGeophis laticinctus Smith & Williams, 1963 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Highland Earth SnakeGeophis mutitorques (Cope, 1885) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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=Geophis&species=dunni 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3FR92. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.