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Hypsiglena torquata (GÜNTHER, 1860)

IUCN Red List - Hypsiglena torquata - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Dipsadinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) 
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Night Snake
affinis
baueri
catalinae
chlorophaea: Sonoran Night Snake
deserticola: Desert Night Snake
gularis
jani: Texas Night Snake
klauberi
loreala: Mesa Verde Night Snake
martinensis
nuchalata: California Night Snake
ochrorhyncha: Spotted Night Snake
tiburonensis
torquata
tortugensis
tortugaensis
unaocularis
venusta
G: Nachtschlange 
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, Guanajuato)

tortugaensis: Isla Tortuga  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.1.1.15 (formerly BMNH 1861.12.30.97), a female
Holotype: CAS; Paratype SDNHM = SDSNH 4074 [tortugaensis] 
Diagnosis 
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.

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. 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.

Not listed for Honduras by WILSON & MCCRANIE (2002).

Diet: mostly specialized on lizards

Behavior: nocturnal 
Etymology 
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
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  • Cooper, Sarah L. 1996. Geographic Distribution. Hypsiglena torquata deserticola. Herpetological Review 27 (4): 213 - get paper here
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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, 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. Natur. Hist. Mus. of L.A. Co., Contrib. in Sci. (275): 1-17
  • 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
  • PALACIOS-AGUILAR, RICARDO & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2018. An updated checklist of the herpetofauna from Guerrero, Mexico. Zootaxa 4422 (1): 1-24 - get paper here
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