Tantilla hobartsmithi

Tantilla hobartsmithi, commonly known as the southwestern blackhead snake, is a species of small colubrid snake native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Tantilla hobartsmithi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Tantilla
Species:
T. hobartsmithi
Binomial name
Tantilla hobartsmithi
Taylor, 1936
Synonyms[2]
  • Tantilla hobartsmithi
    Taylor, 1936
  • Tantilla utahensis
    Blanchard, 1938
  • Tantilla hobartsmithi
    — Stebbins, 1985

Etymology

The specific name or epithet, hobartsmithi, is in honor of American zoologist and herpetologist Hobart M. Smith (1912–2013).[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

T. hobartsmithi was first described by Edward Harrison Taylor in 1936.

Description

The southwestern blackhead snake is a small snake, growing to a maximum total length (including tail) of 15 in (38 cm), but typically averaging around 8 in (20 cm) in total length.

Dorsally, it is uniformly brown in color, except for the black-colored head, which gives it its common name, and a cream-colored or white collar. On the belly, there is a broad reddish stripe, which runs down the center of the ventral scales.[4]

Venom

T. hobartsmithi is rear-fanged, having enlarged rear teeth and a modified saliva, which while harmless to mammals, is believed to be toxic to arthropods, its primary prey.

Behavior

Blackhead snakes (genus Tantilla) are primarily nocturnal and fossorial, spending most of their time hiding in loose soil, leaf litter, or under ground debris.

Diet

Blackhead snakes eat most varieties of soft-bodied insects and centipedes.

Reproduction

T. hobartsmithi is oviparous.[5]

Geographic range

The southwestern blackhead snake is found in the southwestern United States, in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, as well as in northern Mexico, in Chihuahua, and Coahuila, and Sonora.[6]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of T. hobartsmithi are desert, grassland, shrubland, and forest.[1]

References
  1. Frost, D.R.; Hammerson, G.A.; Santos-Barrera, G. (2007). "Tantilla hobartsmithi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T63947A12730643. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63947A12730643.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. "Tantilla hobartsmithi ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  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. (Tantilla hobartsmithi, p. 247).
  4. Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. ISBN 0-395-98272-3 (paperback). (Tantilla hobartsmithi, p. 400 + Figures 28 & 29 on p. 398 + Map 177 on p. 503).
  5. Species Tantilla hobartsmithi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  6. "Tantilla hobartsmithi". Discover Life. Retrieved July 9, 2006.

Further reading
  • Blanchard FN (1938). "Snakes of the Genus Tantilla in the United States". Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 20 (28): 369–376. (Tantilla utahensis, new species, p. 372).
  • Taylor EH (1936). "Notes and Comments on Certain American and Mexican Snakes of the Genus Tantilla, with Descriptions of New Species". Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci. 39: 335–348. (Tantilla hobartsmithi, new species, p. 340).
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