NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Jamaican Red Groundsnake
Hypsirhynchus callilaemus (Gosse, 1851)
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
Hypsirhynchus callilaemus, the Jamaican red racer, Jamaican red racerlet, or Jamaican red ground snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Jamaica. It is found on all parishes of the island except Hanover and forages for lizards and frogs in the night.
Wikipedia contributors, Hypsirhynchus callilaemus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:51:22.535337+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hypsirhynchus callilaemus (Gosse, 1851)
- Name authority
- (Gosse, 1851)
- Common name
- Jamaican Red Groundsnake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Hypsirhynchus
- 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
- genusHypsirhynchus
- speciesHypsirhynchus callilaemus (Gosse, 1851)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hypsirhynchus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Jamaican Long-tailed GroundsnakeHypsirhynchus polylepis (Buden, 1966) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Jamaica RacerHypsirhynchus ater (Gosse, 1851) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hispaniola Cat-eyed SnakeHypsirhynchus ferox Günther, 1858 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Jamaican Black GroundsnakeHypsirhynchus funereus (Cope, 1862) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hispaniolan Olive RacerHypsirhynchus melanichnus (Cope, 1862) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Common Hispaniolan RacerHypsirhynchus parvifrons (Cope, 1862) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tiburon Hog-nosed RacerHypsirhynchus scalaris Cope, 1862 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Natrix callilaema Gosse, 1851 Gosse, 1851 | 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=Hypsirhynchus&species=callilaemus 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:3P49L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.