Tantilla hobartsmithi
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Tantilla hobartsmithi, commonly known as Smith's black-headed snake and the southwestern blackhead snake, is a species of small snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northern Mexico.
Etymology
The specific name or epithet, hobartsmithi, is in honor of American zoologist and herpetologist Hobart M. Smith (1912–2013).[1]
Taxonomy and systematics
Tantilla 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 (tail included) of Script error: No such module "convert".,[2] but typically averaging around Script error: No such module "convert". 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.[2]
Venom
Tantilla 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.[2]
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.[2]
Diet
Blackhead snakes eat most varieties of soft-bodied insects, centipedes, millipedes, and spiders.[2]
Reproduction
Tantilla hobartsmithi is oviparous.[3] Clutch size is only one to three eggs, which are laid in June, July, or August.[2]
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, Coahuila, and Sonora.[4]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitats of Tantilla hobartsmithi are desert, grassland, shrubland, and forest,[5] at altitudes from sea level to Template:Cvt.[3]
References
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- ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. Template:ISBN. (Tantilla hobartsmithi, p. 247).
- ↑ a b c d e f 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. Template:ISBN (paperback). (Tantilla hobartsmithi, p. 400 + Figures 28 & 29 on p. 398 + Map 177 on p. 503).
- ↑ a b Species Tantilla hobartsmithi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
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Further reading
- Blanchard, F.N. (1938). "Snakes of the Genus Tantilla in the United States". Zoological Series, Field Museum of Natural History 20 (28): 369–376. (Tantilla utahensis, new species, p. 372).
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- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". 572 pp.
- Taylor, E.H. (1936). "Notes and Comments on Certain American and Mexican Snakes of the Genus Tantilla, with Descriptions of New Species". Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 39: 335–348. (Tantilla hobartsmithi, new species, p. 340).