Sonora occipitalis (HALLOWELL, 1854)
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Sonora occipitalis
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Western Shovelnose Snake occipitalis: Mojave Shovelnose Snake talpina: Nevada Shovelnose Snake G: Westliche Schaufelnasenschlange S: Rostro de Pala Occidental |
| Synonym | Rhinostoma 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 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 — 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 |
| Distribution | USA (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." |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: USNM 8030, figured in Hallowell 1859 (plate IV, fig. 2a-c). Holotype: CAS 81364; Paratypes: SDNHM = SDSNH 39520, 39521 [talpina] Holotype: MCZ 77039 [saxatilis] |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS (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). |
| Comment | Synonymy: 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. |
| Etymology | The 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. |
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