Sonora annulata, also known commonly as the Colorado Desert shovelnose snake, is a species of snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae.[1] The species is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northwestern Mexico. There are two recognized subspecies.

Sonora annulata
San Diego County, California, 2024
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Sonora
Species:
S. annulata
Binomial name
Sonora annulata
(Baird, 1859)
Synonyms[1]
  • Lamprosoma annulatum
    Baird, 1859
  • Chionactis annulata
    (Baird, 1859)
  • Chionactis occipitalis annulata
    (Baird, 1859)

Geographic range

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In the United States, S. annulata is found in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California. In Mexico it is found in northeastern Baja California.[1]

Diet

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S. annulata preys upon insects, scorpions, and lizards.[2]

Subspecies

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Two subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[1]

  • Sonora annulata annulata (Baird, 1859)
  • Sonora annulata klauberi Stickel, 1941 – Tucson shovel-nosed snake

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Sonora.

Etymology

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The subspecific name, klauberi, is in honor of American herpetologist Laurence Monroe Klauber.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Species Sonora annulata at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ^ 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 two volumes). (Chionactis occipitalis annulata, pp. 124–128, Figure 39 + Map 15 on p. 122).
  3. ^ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Chionactis occipitalis klauberi, p. 143).

Further reading

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  • Baird SF (1859). "Reptiles of the Boundary, with Notes by the Naturalists of the Survey". pp. 1–35 + Plates 1–41. In: Emory WH (1859). Report of the United States and Mexico Boundary Survey, under the Order of Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory, Major First Cavalry, and United States Commissioner. Volume II. Part II. Zoology of the Boundary. Washington, District of Columbia: Department of the Interior. (Lamprosoma annulatum, new species, p. 22).
  • Klauber LM (1951). "The Shovel-Nosed Snake, Chionactis, with Descriptions of Two New Subspecies". Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 11 (9): 141–204. (Chionactis occipitalis annulata, pp. 161–170; C. o. klauberi, pp. 170–172).
  • Stickel WH (1941). "The Subspecies of the Spade-nosed Snake, Sonora occipitalis ". Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 6 (7): 135–140. (Sonora occipitalis klauberi, new subspecies, pp. 138–140, Figures 1–2).