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Masticophis bilineatus JAN, 1863

IUCN Red List - Masticophis bilineatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Sonoran Whipsnake
E: Ajo Mountain Whipsnake [lineolatus]
S: Látigo de Sonora 
SynonymMasticophis bilineatus JAN 1863: 65
Bascanium semilineatum COPE 1892 (fide WALLACH)
Bascanion semilineatum — STEJNEGER 1902: 155
Masticophis semilineatus — TAYLOR 1938: 491
Masticophis bilineatus lineolatus HENSLEY 1950: 270
Masticophis bilineatus bilineatus — ZWEIFEL & NORRIS 1955
Masticophis bilineatus bilineatus — LEWIS 1956
Masticophis bilineatus lineolatus — STEBBINS 1985: 184
Masticophis bilineatus — STEBBINS 1985: 183
Masticophis bilineatus — LINER 1994
Masticophis lineolatus — LINER 1994
Masticophis bilineatus — MATTISON 1995: 109
Coluber lineolatus — UTIGER et al. 2005 (by implication)
Coluber bilineatus — UTIGER et al. 2005 (by implication)
Masticophis bilineatus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Coluber bilineatus — CROTHER et al. 2012
Masticophis bilineatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 418
Masticophis bilineatus — O’CONNELL et al. 2017
Masticophis bilineatus — MYERS et al. 2017 
DistributionUSA (Arizona, SW New Mexico),
Mexico (Sonora, W Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango)

slevini (invalid): Isla San Esteban; Type locality: San Esteban Island, Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico.

lineolatus [synonym]: USA (Arizona: Ajo Mountains), Mexico; Type locality: USA: 12.9 S and 5 mi E North Branch of Alamo Canyon, via Rt. 85, Pima County, Arizona.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MTD 15523 (= MTKD)
Holotype: SDNHM = SDSNH 3826; paratype SDNHM = SDSNH 41571 [slevini]
Holotype: SDNHM = SDSNH 43402; INHS (= UIMNH) 5611; Max Hensley; May 15, 1949 [fide PHILLIPS 2003 [lineolatus]]
Syntype: USNM 8434, 1981 [Bascanium semilineatum] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This species is the only striped whipsnake having 17 midbody dorsal scale rows and paired pale spots on the anterior corners of the dorsal scales. (Camper 1996) 
CommentSubspecies: GRISMER 1999 elevated slevini to full (evolutionary) species status. CAMPER & DIXON (1994) didn’t recognize any subspecies of M. bilineatus. Masticophis bilineatus lineolatus has been elevated to full species status and more recently considered as a synonym of C. bilineatus (e.g. Crother et al. 2012). C. lineolatus is not listed by CROTHER 2000 nor by Liner 2007.

Illustration (from Günther 1902) in Herp. Bull 72: 25.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Synonymy: “It is with little doubt that the name bilineatus of Jan is associated with this species. In the "Elenco" he states that the scale rows are 17, and that probably the snake came from western Mexico. In 1867 the type was well illustrated and shown to have a pattern precisely like that of the species generally known as semilineatus. This is not Masticophis bilineatus Cope 1866: 127), a name applied without description to two specimens (Field no. 777) IN Scott's collection from Yucatán (USNM 6555 now lost). Cope's synonymy for this name is Herpetodryas bilineatus Schlegel ined., Jan (Elenco Sist. Ofidi, p. 81. 1863). Cope probably used this name for the young of Dryadophis boddaertii melanolomus, and perhaps Jan had the same form. Regardless, however, of the identity of either Jan's or Cope's specimens, the name was suppressed by Cope in 1866, by his allocation of it to Masticophis, in which genus the same name was earlier proposed and diagnosed by Jan (1863).” (Smith 1941) 
EtymologyNamed after the Latin bi (= two) and linea (= line), referring to the two-striped pattern typical of this snake. 
References
  • Bezy, R.L., and E.F. Enderson. 2003. Field observations of predation by the Sonoran Whipsnake (Masticophis bilineatus). Sonoran Herpetologist 16 (2):16-17. - get paper here
  • Bezy, Robert L. and Charles J. Cole 2014. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Madrean Archipelago of Arizona and New Mexico. American Museum Novitates (3810): 1-24 - get paper here
  • Camper J D. 1996. Masticophis bilineatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (637): 1-4. - get paper here
  • Camper J D. Dixon J R. 1994. Geographic variation and systematics of the striped whipsnakes (Masticophis taeniatus complex; Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 63 (1): 1-48.
  • Carbajal-Márquez, Rubén A. and Gustavo E. Quintero-Díaz 2016. The Herpetofauna of Aguascalientes, México. Revista Mexicana de Herpetología 2(1):
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  • 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
  • Collins, J.T. and T. W. Taggart 2009. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Sixth Edition. Center for North American Herpetology, 48 pp.
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  • Cowles, J 2018. Masticophis bilineatus (Sonoran Whipsnake) and Oxybelis aeneus (Brown Vinesnake) Diet and Predation. Herpetological Review 49 (2): 345-346 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. (chair) et al. 2012. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. 7th edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 92 pp.
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  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
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  • Herritt, M.C. 2018. Geographic Distribution: Masticophis bilineatus (Sonoran Whipsnake). Herpetological Review 49 (1): 77. - get paper here
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  • Lowe,C.H. and Norris,K.S. 1955. Analysis of the herpetofauna of Baja California, Mexico. III. New and revived reptilian subspecies of Isla San Esteban, Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico, with notes on other islands in the Gulf of California. Herpetologica 11: 89-96 - get paper here
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  • O'Connell, K. A., Streicher, J. W., Smith, E. N. and Fujita, M. K. 2017. Geographical features are the predominant driver of molecular diversification in widely distributed North American Whipsnakes. Mol Ecol. 26: 5729–5751 - get paper here
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