Sonora (snake)

Sonora is a genus of small harmless colubrid snakes commonly referred to as ground snakes, which are endemic to North America.

Sonora
Western ground snake (Sonora semiannulata)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Colubrinae
Genus: Sonora
Baird & Girard, 1853
Type species
Sonora semiannulata
Synonyms[1]
  • Chilomeniscus
  • Chionactis
  • Contia
  • Homalocranium
  • Homalosoma
  • Lamprosoma
  • Ogmius
  • Scolecophis

Distribution and habitat

Species of the genus Sonora range through central and northern Mexico, and the southwestern United States.

They are sand dwellers.[2]

Species

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Sonora aemula (Cope, 1879)filetail ground snake
Sonora annulata (Baird, 1859)Colorado Desert shovelnose snakeSE California, Arizona, Baja California
Sonora cincta Cope, 1861Arizona ground snake, banded burrowing snake, horse snake, red and black ground snake, Sonora ringed snake[1]USA (S Arizona), Mexico (N Baja California Sur, W Sonora)
Sonora episcopa Kennicott, 1859ground snakeUSA (Missouri, N Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, SE Colorado, S/E New Mexico), Mexico (Coahuila)
Sonora fasciata Cope, 1892variable sand snake, banded sand snakeMexico (Baja California)
Sonora michoacanensis (Dugès, 1884)Michoacán ground snakeMexico (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan; Morelos, Puebla)
Sonora mosaueri Stickel, 1938Mosauer's ground snakeMexico (Baja California Sur)
Sonora mutabilis Stickel, 1943Michoacán ground snakeMexico (Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, southern Zacatecas, S Sinaloa)
Sonora occipitalis (Hallowell, 1854)western shovelnose snakeUSA (SE California, S Nevada, SW Arizona), Mexico (Baja California Norte)
Sonora palarostris (Klauber, 1937)Sonoran shovelnose snakeUSA (S Arizona), Mexico (Sonora)
Sonora savagei Cliff, 1954Savage's sand snake[3]Mexico (Baja California)
Sonora semiannulata Baird & Girard, 1853western ground snakeUSA (W Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, S Colorado, S Kansas, SW Missouri, SE Utah, California, Arkansas), Mexico (N Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, NW Nuevo León, NE Durango)
Sonora straminea Cope, 1860variable sand snakeMexico (S Baja California Sur, Sinaloa)
Sonora taylori (Boulenger, 1894)Taylor's ground snake[3]S Texas, adjacent Mexico

References

  1. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes). ("Genus Chilomeniscus", pp. 116–120; "Genus Sonora", pp. 669–692).
  2. Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. ISBN 0-7167-0020-4. (Subfamily Colubrinae, Genus Sonora, p. 324).
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Chilomeniscus savagei, p. 233; Sonora taylori, p. 262).

Further reading

  • Baird SF, Girard CF (1853). Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (Sonora, new genus, p. 117).
  • Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 213).
  • Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus Sonora, p. 197).
  • Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 166).



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