You are here » home › search results › Hypsiglena torquata

Hypsiglena torquata (GÜNTHER, 1860)

IUCN Red List - Hypsiglena torquata - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Hypsiglena torquata?

Add your own observation of
Hypsiglena torquata »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Night Snake
G: Nachtschlange
S: Nocturna de Collar 
SynonymLeptodeira torquata GÜNTHER 1860: 170
Comastes quincuniatus JAN 1871
Sibon torquatum — GARMAN 1884: 18
Hypsiglena torquata — BOULENGER 1894: 210
Hypsiglena torquata torquata — TAYLOR 1939: 371
Hypsiglena torquata — TANNER 1946: 40
Hypsiglena torquata torquata — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 132
Hypsiglena torquata — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 132
Hypsiglena torquata — STEBBINS 1985: 221
Hypsiglena torquata — LINER 1994
Hypsiglena torquata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 343
Hypsiglena torquata — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015 
DistributionMexico (Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Guerrero, W Puebla, Morelos, Aguascalientes, Durango)

martinensis: Type locality: San Martln Island. Baja California, Mexico.

tortugaensis: Isla Tortuga

Type locality: restricted to “near Lagunillas, Morelos” by Tanner 1997.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: BMNH 1946.1.1.15 (formerly BMNH 1861.12.30.97), a female (originally in the Derby Museum at Liverpool, fide Günther 1860), designated by Tanner 1997.
Holotype: CAS; Paratype SDNHM = SDSNH 4074 [tortugaensis] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (2252 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSubspecies: Note that MULCAHY (2008) has revised the Hypsiglena torquata complex and elevated several subspecies to full species status while moving some other to the new species. For example, populations in Washington and British Columbia state are now referred to H. chlorophaea deserticola. Hypsiglena torquata tortugaensis TANNER 1946 is now a subspecies of H. ochrorhyncha.

Synonymy: PETERS (1956) also removed Pseudodipsas fallax PETERS 1860 from its synonymy. GRISMER (1999) also synonymized tiburonensis and tortugensis with torquata because there are no diagnostic differences. MULCAHY (2008) recognized tiburonensis but did not mention tortugensis.

Distribution: The type locality for H. torquata was originally described as Island of Laguna, Nicaragua (Günther, 1860), but later revised to near Lagunillas in Moreles, Mexico (Tanner, 1997).  Peters (1956) corrected an erroneous record from Ecuador. Tanner (1997) and Savage (2002) corrected other dubious records from Central America; there are currently no valid records of Hypsiglena south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico (from D. Mulcahy, pers. comm.).
Records from South America (Ecuador, Venezuela) seem to be erroneous according to PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 132.
Not listed for Honduras by WILSON & MCCRANIE (2002). Not in Guanajuato fide Leyte-Manrique et al. 2022.

Diet: mostly specialized on lizards

Behavior: nocturnal 
EtymologyFrom latin torquis meaning collar in allusion to the dark band on their neck. 
References
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Brennan, T.C. 2004. Hypsiglena torquata (Nightsnake) diet. Sonoran Herpetologist 17 (3):30. - get paper here
  • Canseco-Márquez, L., & Gutiérrrez-Mayén, M.G. 2010. Anfibios y reptiles del Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán. Comisión Nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, México D.F., Mexico, 302 pp - get paper here
  • Castro-Franco, Rubén, María Guasalupe Bustos-Zagal 1994. List of reptiles of Morelos, Mexico, and their distribution in relation to vegetation types. Southwestern Naturalist 39 (2): 171-175 - get paper here
  • Cobarrubias, Edgar Flores; Daniel Cruz-Sáenz, and David Lazcano 2012. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Western Mexico 6: Amphibians and Reptiles of Hostotipaquillo, Jalisco, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 47 (2):21-26 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Cooper, Sarah L. 1996. Geographic Distribution. Hypsiglena torquata deserticola. Herpetological Review 27 (4): 213 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1886. Thirteenth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 23: 271-287 [1885] - get paper here
  • Degenhardt, William G.; C. W. Painter, and A. H. Price 1996. Amphibians and reptiles of New Mexico. Univ. New Mexico Press, 431 pp.
  • Dixon, J. R. 1965. A Taxonomic Reevaluation of the Night Snake, Hypsiglena ochrohyncha, and Relatives. Southwestern Naturalist 10 (2): 125-131 - get paper here
  • Dixon, J. R., and R. H. Dean 1986. Status of the Southern Populations of the Night Snake (Hypsiglena: Colubridae) Exclusive of California and Baja California. Southwestern Naturalist 31 (5): 307-318 - get paper here
  • Dixon, James R. 1962. Three additional specimens of the night snake Hypsiglena dunklei. Herpetologica 18 (2): 134-135 - get paper here
  • Fugler, Charles M.;Dixon, James R. 1961. Notes on the herpetofauna of the El Dorado Area of Sinaloa, Mexico. Publications of the Museum, Michigan State University, Biological Series 2 (1): 1-24
  • García, A. & Ceballos, G. 1994. GUIA DE CAMPO DE LOS REPTILES Y ANFIBIOS DE LA COSTA DE JALISCO, MEXICO. FUNDACION ECOLOGICA DE CUIXMALA, A.C. INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA, UNAM - get paper here
  • Garman, Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Grismer, L. L.; McGuire, J. A.; Hollingsworth, B. D. 1994. A report on the herpetofauna of the Vizcaino Peninsula, Baja California, Mexico, with a discussion of its biogeographic and taxonomic implications. Bull. Southern California Acad. Sci. 93 (2): 45-80
  • Grismer, L. Lee. 1999. An evolutionary classification of reptiles on islands in the Gulf of California, México. Herpetologica 55 (4): 446-469 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1860. Description of Leptodeira torquata, a new snake from Central America. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (3) 5: 169-171
  • Hardy, L.M., & McDiarmid, R.W. 1969. The amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 18 (3): 39-252. - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1938. Notes from a herpetological diary, I. Copeia 1938 (4): 191-197 - get paper here
  • Kornacker, P.M. & U. Dederichs 2009. Der Big-Bend-Nationalpark und seine Reptilien. Teil 2: Schlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 14 (75): 51-57 - get paper here
  • Lacey, H, Shewchuk, CH, Gregory, PT, Sarell MJ, Gregory LA. 1996. The occurrence of the night snake, Hypsiglena torquata, in British Columbia, with comments on its body size and diet. Canadian Field-Naturalist 110: 620–625
  • Lannutti, Dominic I.;LaDuc, Travis J.;Johnson, Jerry D. 1996. Geographic Distribution. Hypsiglena torquata jani. Herpetological Review 27 (4): 213 - get paper here
  • Lee, Justin L.; Adrian Thompson, and Daniel G. Mulcahy 2016. Relationships between Numbers of Vertebrae, Scale Counts, and Body Size, with Implications for Taxonomy in Nightsnakes (Genus: Hypsiglena). Journal of Herpetology 50 (4): 616-620 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A conservation checklist of the herpetofauna of Morelos, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 941: 121-144 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico with a conservation status summary and comparisons with neighboring states. ZooKeys 931: 85-114 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Gadsden-Esparza H, Valdez-Lares R, Woolrich-Piña GA 2018. Amphibians and reptiles of the state of Durango, Mexico, with comparisons with adjoining states. ZooKeys 748: 65-87 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Pierce LJS, Painter CW 2020. The amphibians and reptiles of Colima, Mexico, with a summary of their conservation status. ZooKeys 927: 99-125 - get paper here
  • Lewis, Thomas H. 1946. Notes on reptiles from the state of Washingon. Copeia 1946 (3): 155-159 - get paper here
  • Leyte-Manrique, Adrian; Efrén M. Hernández Navarro y Luis A. Escobedo-Morales 2015. Herpetofauna de Guanajuato: Un análisis histórico y contemporáneo de su conocimiento. Revista Mexicana de Herpetología 1(1): 1–14
  • Llewellyn, Robin L. 1998. Geographic Distribution. Hypsiglena torquata deserticola. Herpetological Review 29 (1): 53 - get paper here
  • Loc-barragán J.A., D., Lazcano y G.A Woolrich-Piña. 2018. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico 2: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Municipality of Compostela. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 53(10): 205-212
  • Loc-Barragán JA, Smith GR, Woolrich-Piña GA, Lemos-Espinal JA 2024. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nayarit, Mexico with conservation status and comparison with adjoining States. Herpetozoa 37: 25-42 - get paper here
  • Loc-Barragán, J. A. 2024. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico 6: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Municipality of Bahía de Banderas. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 59(5), 65-74
  • Loc-Barragán, Jesús Alberto and David Lazcano 2018. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico 1: Amphibians and Reptiles of the Municipality of Tecuala. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 53(4):73-80
  • Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W., Copp, J.F., & Breedlove, D.E. 1976. Notes on the herpetofauna of western Mexico: new records from Sinaloa and the Tres Marias Islands. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles (275): 1-17 - get paper here
  • Mulcahy DG, Martínez-Gómez JE, Aguirre-León G, Cervantes-Pasqualli JA, Zug GR 2014. Rediscovery of an Endemic Vertebrate from the Remote Islas Revillagigedo in the Eastern Pacific Ocean: The Clarión Nightsnake Lost and Found. PLoS One 9 (5): e97682. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097682 - get paper here
  • Mulcahy, D.G. 2007. Molecular systematics of neotropical cat-eyed snakes: a test of the monophyly of Leptodeirini (Colubridae: Dipsadinae) with implications for character evolution and biogeography. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 92: 483–500 - get paper here
  • Mulcahy, Daniel G. 2008. Phylogeography and species boundaries of the western North American Nightsnake (Hypsiglena torquata): Revisiting the subspecies concept. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (3): 1095-1115 - get paper here
  • Murphy, R. W.; Ottley, J. R. 1984. Distribution of amphibians and reptiles on islands in the Gulf of California. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 53 (8): 207-230 - get paper here
  • Myers, E. A., Hickerson, M. J. and Burbrink, F. T. 2016. Asynchronous diversification of snakes in the North American warm deserts. J. Biogeogr.. doi:10.1111/jbi.12873 - get paper here
  • Oliveira, L. D., Grazziotin, F. G., Sánchez-Martínez, P. M., Sasa, M., Flores-Villela, O., Prudente, A. L. D. C., & Zaher, H. 2023. Phylogenetic and morphological evidence reveals the association between diet and the evolution of the venom delivery system in Neotropical goo-eating snakes. Systematics and Biodiversity, 21(1), 2153944 - get paper here
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Palacios-Aguilar, Ricardo, Rufino Santos-Bibiano and Elizabeth Beltrán-Sánchez. 2016. Notable distributional records of amphibians and reptiles from Guerrero, Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (2): 527-531 - get paper here
  • Peters, James A. 1956. The occurrence of the snake genus Hypsiglena in Ecuador. Copeia 1956 (1): 57-58 - get paper here
  • Peters, James A.; Donoso-Barros, Roberto & Orejas-Miranda, Braulio 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part I Snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 347 pp. - get paper here
  • Presnall, C. C. 1937. Herpetological notes from Zion National Park. Copeia 1937 (4): 232 - get paper here
  • Rosas-Espinoza, V.C.; Rodríguez-Zaragoza, F.A.; Álvarez-Grzybowska, E.; Peña-Joya, K.E.; Santiago-Pérez, A.L.; Godoy-González, A.A.; Huerta-Martínez, F.M. 2024. Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of Reptiles in a Heterogeneous Landscape of Jalisco State, West-Central Mexico. Diversity 2024, 16, 394 - get paper here
  • Rybak, John A.;Livo, Lauren J.;Chiszar, David;Smith, Hobart M. 1996. Geographic Distribution. Hypsiglena torquata loreala. Herpetological Review 27 (4): 213 - get paper here
  • Salcido-Rodríguez, Israel; Francisco Isaac Hernández-Valadez , Adriana Elizabeth Castillo-Franco , Daniel Cruz-Sáenz , Edgar Emmanuel Hernández-Juárez , David Lazcano , Lydia Allison Fucsko and Larry David Wilson 2023. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Western Mexico 31: Herpetofauna from Sierra de Tesistán, Zapopan,. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 58(10):165-171 - get paper here
  • Santos-Bibiano, R., A. Villanueva-Castro, R. Palacios-Aguilar and E. Beltrán-Sánchez. 2017. Hypsiglena torquata (Günther, 1860). Geographic distribution and diet. Mexico, Guerrero. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(2): 501–502 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, D. & Kunz, K. 2005. Ernährung von Schlangen. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 159 pp. - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P.;Shannon, Frederick A. 1947. Notes on amphibians and reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 31 (9): 63-85
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Tanner, W. W. 1946. A taxonomic study of the genus Hypsiglena. Great Basin Naturalist 5 (3-4): 25-92 [1944] - get paper here
  • Tanner, W. W. 1981. A new Hypsiglena from Tiburon Island, Sonora, Mexico. Great Basin Naturalist 41 (1): 139-142 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1954. Additional note on the genus Hypsiglena with a descriptionof a new subspecies. Herpetologica 10: 54-56 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1966. The night snakes of Baja California. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 14 (15): 189-196 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1985. Snakes of Western Chihuahua. Great Basin Naturalist 45 (4): 615-676 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1997. Type locality restriction of Hypsiglena torquata Günther. Great Basin Naturalist 57 (1): 79-82 - get paper here
  • Tanner, Wilmer W.; Banta, Benjamin H. 1962. Description of a new Hypsiglena from San Martín Island, México, with a resumé of the reptile fauna of the island. Herpetologica 18 (1): 21-25 - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1939. On Mexican snakes of the genera Trimorphodon and Hypsiglena. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 25 (16): 357-383 [1938] - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1939. Some Mexican serpents. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 26 (13): 445-487 - get paper here
  • Thornton, Okla W., Jr.;Smith, Jerry R. 1993. New county records of amphibians and reptiles from West-Central Texas. Herpetological Review 24 (1): 35-36 - get paper here
  • Valdez-Lares, R.; R. Muñiz-Martínez; E.Gadsden; G. Aguirre-León; G. Castañeda-Gaytán; R. Gonzalez-Trápaga 2013. Checklist of amphibians and reptiles of the state of Durango, México. Check List 9 (4):714-724 - get paper here
  • Vázquez Díaz, Joel;Quintero Díaz, Gustavo E. 2005. Anfibios y Reptiles de Aguascalientes [2nd ed.]. CONABIO, CIEMA, 318 pp.
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Webb, R.G. 1984. Herpetogeography in the Mazatlán-Durango Region of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. Vetrebrate Ecology and Systematics - A ribute to Henry S. Fitch; Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, pp. 217-241
  • Werning, Heiko 2012. Die Reptilien und Amphibien des Südwestens. Draco 13 (50): 18-60 - get paper here
  • WILLIAMS, SPENCER & JOSE ANGEL ARCE 2021. New Distributional Records from Mixtlán, an Undersampled Municipality in Jalisco, Mexico. Herpetological Review 52 (2): 359–361
  • Woolrich-Piña, G. A., E. García-Padilla, D. L. DeSantis, J. D. Johnson, V. Mata-Silva, and L. D. Wilson 2017. The herpetofauna of Puebla, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(4): 791–884 - get paper here
  • Woolrich-Piña, Guillermo A, Paulino Ponce-Campos, Jesús Loc-Barragán, Juan Pablo Ramírez-Silva, Vicente Mata-Silva, Jerry D. Johnson, Elí García-Padilla and Larry David Wilson. 2016. The herpetofauna of Nayarit, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (2): 376-448 - get paper here
  • Zweifel, Richard G. 1958. Results of the Puritan-American Museum of Natural History Expedition to western Mexico 2. Notes on reptiles and amphibians from the Pacific Coastal Islands of Baja California. American Museum Novitates (1895): 1-17 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hypsiglena&species=torquata

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator