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Sonora occipitalis (HALLOWELL, 1854)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Shovelnose Snake
occipitalis: Mojave Shovelnose Snake
talpina: Nevada Shovelnose Snake
G: Westliche Schaufelnasenschlange
S: Rostro de Pala Occidental 
SynonymRhinostoma occipitale HALLOWELL 1854: 95
Lamprosoma occipitale — HALLOWELL 1856: 311.
Chionactis occipitale — COPE 1860: 241 (nom. subst.)
Chionactis occipitalis — COOPER 1870: 66
Homalosoma occipitale — MÜLLER 1882: 125
Contia occipitalis — GARMAN 1884: 91
Contia occipitalis — GARMAN 1884a: 91
Chioractis occipitalis — COPE 1900: 941
Contia occipitaIe — BROWN 1901: 68 (part)
Chioractis occipitalis — MEEK 1905: 15
Sonora occipitalis — VAND ENBRUGH & SLEVIN 1913:412 (part)
Sonora occipitalis — STICKEL 1938: 183
Sonora occipitalis — STICKEL 1941
Chionactis occipitalis talpina KLAUBER, 1951: 172
Chionactis saxatilis FUNK 1967
Chionactis occipitalis occipitalis — LOOMIS & STEPHENS 1967
Chionactis occipitalis — STEBBINS 1985: 213
Chionactis occipitalis occipitalis — MEHRTENS 1987: 178
Chionactis occipitalis — LINER 1994
Chionactis saxatilis — COLLINS 1997
Chionactis occipitalis talpina — CROTHER 2000: 58
Chionactis occipitalis talpina — SCHMIDT & KUNZ 2005: 110
Chionactis occipitalis talpina — CROTHER et al. 2012
Chionactis occipitalis — CROTHER et al. 2012
Chionactis occipitalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 160
Chionactis occipitalis — LEMOS-ESPINAL 2015
Sonora occipitalis — COX et al. 2018: 975
Chionactis occipitalis — LILLYWHITE 2022 
DistributionUSA (SE California, S Nevada, SW Arizona),
Mexico (Baja California Norte, Sonora)

Type locality: Mohave Desert of California.

saxatilis (invalid): USA (Arizona); Type locality, "Gila Mountains, Yuma Co., Ariz., ca. 2.5 air miles northeast (in T. 10S.. R.20W) ofFortuna Mine at an elevation of ca. 2300 feet above sea level."

talpina (invalid): extreme S Nevada; Type locality: "50 miles south of Goldfield on the highway to Beatty, in Nye County, Nevada."  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 8030, figured in Hallowell 1859 (plate IV, fig. 2a-c).
Holotype: CAS 81364; Paratypes: SDNHM = SDSNH 39520, 39521 [talpina]
Holotype: MCZ 77039 [saxatilis] 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (Chionactis). “Chionactis can be distinguished from all other
North American colubrids by the following combination of characters: nasal valve well-developed, a flattened spade-like snout, a countersunk lower jaw, dark brown or black crossbands (usually 10 or more), dorsal scales usually in 15 rows, internasals not separated by the rostral, and an angled abdomen with a flattened ventral surface.” (Mahrdt et al. 2001).


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CommentSynonymy: mostly after Mahrdt et al. 2001.

Subspecies: Chionactis occipitalis talpina KLAUBER 1951 has been synonymized with C. occipitalis by WOOD et al. 2014 who also moved the other subspecies to C. annulata. Wood et al. (2008) concluded that “Neither molecular nor morphological data are concordant with the traditional C. occipitalis subspecies taxonomy. Mitochondrial sequences suggest specimens recognized as C. o. klauberi are embedded in a larger geographic clade whose range has expanded from western Arizona populations, and these data are concordant with clinal longitudinal variation in morphology.” Consequently, the subspecies of C. occipitalis should be rejected.

Type species: Rhinostoma occipitale HALLOWELL 1854: 95 is the type species of the genus Chionactis COPE 1860: 241. Lamprosoma is pre-occupied by a genus oc Coleoptera.

Distribution: not in Sonora fide Lemos-Espinal et al. 2019 and Cox et al. 2018: 976 although the map in the latter (Fig. 5) is ambiguous about the distribution. 
EtymologyThe name occipitalis is derived from the Latin occipit meaning the back of the head, in reference to "the occipital crescent blotch" (Baird 1859a).

The generic name Chionactis is derived from the Greek chion, meaning "snow," and the Greek aktis or aktinos, meaning a "ray or beam of light," in "allusion to the refulgent whitness of the scale" (Cope 1860). The gender is feminine. 
References
  • Astley, Henry C.; Joseph R. Mendelson, III, Jin Dai, Chaohui Gong, Baxi Chong, Jennifer M. Rieser, Perrin E. Schiebel, Sarah S. Sharpe, Ross L. Hatton, Howie Choset and Daniel I. Goldman 2020. Surprising simplicities and syntheses in limbless self-propulsion in sand. Journal of Experimental Biology 223: jeb103564, doi:10.1242/jeb.103564 - get paper here
  • Baird, S.F. 1859. Reptiles of the Boundary. In: United States and Mexican Boundary Survey under the Order of Lieut. Col. W. H. Emory, Major First Cavalry, and United States Commisioner. 2, Rept., Pt.2. Department of the Interior, Washington, 35 pp. - get paper here
  • Banta, Benjamin H. 1953. Some herpetological notes from southern Nevada. Herpetologica 9: 75-76 - get paper here
  • Barts, M. 2009. Chionactis occipitalis annulata (BAIRD). Sauria 31 (4): 2 - get paper here
  • Collins J T 1997. Standard Common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles, 4th edition. Herpetological Circular 25: 1-40
  • Cope, E.D. 1900. The crocodilians, lizards and snakes of North America. Ann. Rep. U.S. Natl. Mus. 1898: 153-1270 - get paper here
  • Cox, Christian L.; Alison R. Davis Rabosky, Iris A. Holmes, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, Corey E. Roelke, Eric N. Smith, Oscar Flores-Villela, Jimmy A. McGuire & Jonathan A. Campbell 2018. Synopsis and taxonomic revision of three genera in the snake tribe Sonorini. Journal of Natural History 52: 945-988 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
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  • Funk, Richard S. 1967. A New Colubrid Snake of the Genus Chionactis from Arizona. Southwestern Naturalist 12 (2): 180 - 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
  • González-Romero, A., & Alvarez-Cárdenas, S. 1989. Herpetofauna de la Region del Pinacate, Sonora, Mexico: Un Inventario. The Southwestern Naturalist, 34(4), 519–526 - get paper here
  • Goode, Matthew J.;Schuett, Gordon W. 1994. Male combat in the western shovelnose snake (Chionactis occipitalis). Herpetological Natural History 2 (1): 115-117
  • Hallowell,E. 1854. Description of new reptiles from California. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 7 [1854]: 91-97 - get paper here
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  • Kunz, K. 2006. Zerteilen von Beute bei Schlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 11 (59): 6-7 - get paper here
  • Kunz, K. 2012. Kleine Tiere, kleine Terarrien, großer Anspruch: Nano-Terraristik!. Reptilia (Münster) 17 (97): 22-31 - get paper here
  • Kunz, Kriton 2015. Schlangen, die Wirbellose fressen. Terraria-Elaphe 2015 (5): 14-20 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal, Julio A. (ed.) 2015. Amphibians and Reptiles of the US - Mexico Border States / Anfibios y Reptiles de los Estados de la Frontera México - Estados Unidos. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas. x + 614 pp.; ISBN 978-1-62349-306-6. - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, H.B. 2022. Discovering snakes in wild places. ECO Publishing, Rodeo, NM, 164 pp. - get paper here
  • Loomis, Richard B.;Stephens, Robert C. 1967. Additional notes on snakes taken in or near Joshua Tree National Monument, California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 66 (1): 1-22 - get paper here
  • Love, B. 2014. Neue Horizonte. Reptilia (Münster) 19 (108): 14-15
  • Mahrdt, Clark R., Kent R. Beaman, Philip C. Rosen and Peter A. Holm 2001. Chionactis occipitalis (Hallowell) Western Shovel-nosed Snake. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (731): 1-12 - get paper here
  • Mahrdt, Clark R., Kent R. Beaman, Philip C. Rosen and Peter A. Holm 2001. Chionactis Cope Shovel-nosed Snakes. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (730): 1-6 - get paper here
  • Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Living snakes of the world in color. Sterling Publ. Co., hic., New York, NY: 480 pp.
  • Mosauer, W. 1933. Locomotion and Diurnal Range of Sonora occipitalis, Crotalus cerastes, and Crotalus atrox as Seen from Their Tracks. Copeia, 1933(1), 14-16 - get paper here
  • Rorabaugh, J.C. 2002. Diurnal activity and a minimum population density estimate of the Colorado Desert Shovel-nosed Snake (Chionactis occipitalis annulata). Sonoran Herpetologist 15 (4):42-43. - get paper here
  • Rorabaugh, J.C. 2014. Western Shovel-nosed Snake (Chionactis occipitalis). Herpetofauna of the 100 Mile Circle. Sonoran Herpetologist 27 (2):38-44. - get paper here
  • Schmidt, D. & Kunz, K. 2005. Ernährung von Schlangen. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 159 pp. - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Stickel, W.H. 1943. The Mexican snakes of the genera Sonora and Chionactis with notes on the status of other colubrid genera. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 56: 109-128 - get paper here
  • Stickel, William H. 1938. The snakes of the genus Sonora in the United States and Lower California. Copeia 1938 (4): 182-190 - get paper here
  • Stickel, William H. 1941. The subspecies of the spade-nosed snake, Sonora occipitalis. Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci. 6: 135-140
  • Van Denburgh, John and Joseph R. Slevin 1913. A list of the amphibians and reptiles of Arizona, with notes on the species in the collection of the Academy. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 3 (13): 391-454 - get paper here
  • 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.
  • Werning, Heiko 2012. Die Reptilien und Amphibien des Südwestens. Draco 13 (50): 18-60 - get paper here
  • Whitford, Malachi; Grace Freymiller, Jessica Ryan, Drew Steele, Corrina Tapia, Rulon W. Clark 2017. Chionactis occipitalis: hypomelanism. Herpetology Notes 10: 411-412 - get paper here
  • Wood DA, Fisher RN, Vandergast AG 2014. Fuzzy Boundaries: Color and Gene Flow Patterns among Parapatric Lineages of the Western Shovel-Nosed Snake and Taxonomic Implication. PLoS One 9 (5): e97494. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097494 - get paper here
  • Wood, D.A.; Meik, J.M.; Holycross, A.T.; Fisher, R.N. & Vandergast, A.G. 2008. Molecular and phenotypic diversity in Chionactis occipitalis (Western Shovel-nosed Snake), with emphasis on the status of C. o. klauberi (Tucson Shovel-nosed Snake). Conservation Genetics 9:1489–1507 - get paper here
 
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