Pituophis

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Template:Short description Template:Automatic taxobox

Pituophis is a genus of nonvenomous colubrid snakes, commonly referred to as gopher snakes, pine snakes, and bullsnakes, which are endemic to North America. They are often yellow or cream in color with dark spots and a dark line across their face. Some species can exceed seven feet in length. Gopher snakes can live for 15 years. The gopher snake is commonly misidentified as a rattlesnake because of its similar coloration and its defensive behavior when feeling threatened. A scared gopher snake will flatten its head, hiss loudly, and shake its tail rapidly, doing a very convincing rattlesnake imitation.

Nomenclature

The genus name Pituophis is a Latinized modern scientific Greek compound Πιτυόφις : "pine snake"; from Template:Langx (pítus, "pine"), and Template:Langx (óphis, "snake").

Geographic range

Species and subspecies within the genus Pituophis are found throughout Mexico, the Southern and Western United States and Western Canada.[1]

Description

All species of Pituophis are large and powerfully built. The head is relatively small in proportion to the body and it is only slightly distinct from the neck. The rostral is enlarged and elongated, imparting a characteristic somewhat pointed shape to the head. All the species occurring in the United States have four prefrontals instead of the usual two.[1]

Modified epiglottis

In all snakes of the genus Pituophis, the epiglottis is peculiarly modified so that it is thin, erect and flexible. When a stream of air is forced from the trachea, the epiglottis vibrates, thereby producing the peculiarly loud, hoarse hissing for which bullsnakes, gopher snakes, and pine snakes are well known.[2]

Species and subspecies

Image Scientific name Common Name Subspecies Distribution
File:Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Carrizo Plain).jpg Pituophis catenifer (Blainville, 1835)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". gopher snake
  • P. c. affinis (Hallowell, 1852)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Sonoran gopher snake
  • P. c. annectens Baird & Girard, 1853Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – San Diego gopher snake
  • P. c. bimaris Klauber, 1946Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – central Baja California gopher snake
  • P. c. catenifer (Blainville, 1835)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Pacific gopher snake
  • P. c. coronalis Klauber, 1946Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Coronado Island gopher snake
  • P. c. deserticola Stejneger, 1893Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Great Basin gopher snake
  • P. c. fulginatus Klauber, 1946Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – San Martin Island gopher snake
  • P. c. pumilis Klauber, 1946Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Santa Cruz Island gopher snake[3]
  • P. c. sayi (Schlegel, 1837)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – bullsnake
 North America
File:Pituophis deppei1 (cropped).jpg Pituophis deppei (A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Mexican bullsnake
  • P. d. deppei (A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – southern Mexican pine snake
  • P. d. jani (Cope, 1861)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – northern Mexican pine snake
 central, Mexico
Pituophis insularis Klauber, 1946Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Credos Island gopher snake Isla de Credos, Mexico
File:Shulba(Pituophis lineaticollis) (cropped).jpg Pituophis lineaticollis (Cope, 1861)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Middle American gopher snake
  • P. l. gibsoni Stuart, 1954Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • P. l. lineaticollis (Cope, 1861)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
 From Mexico city, south through Mexico and to Guatemala
File:G-Bartolotti FL pine.jpg Pituophis melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". pine snake
  • P. m. lodingi Blanchard, 1924Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – black pine snake
  • P. m. melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – northern pine snake
  • P. m. mugitus Barbour, 1921Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – Florida pine snake
 southeastern United States
File:PinesnakeSaenz nr-page.jpg Pituophis ruthveni Stull, 1929Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Louisiana pine snake west-central Louisiana and East Texas
File:Cape gopher snake.jpg Pituophis vertebralis (Blainville, 1835)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Cape gopher snake southern Baja California Sur, Mexico.

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:Taxonbar Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ a b Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Template:ISBN (paperback). (Genus Pituophis, pp. 198–201 + Plate 27 + figure 57 + Map 147).
  2. ↑ 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 Pituophis, pp. 158–160).
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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