Salvadora bairdi explained

Salvadora bairdi, also known commonly as Baird's patchnose snake and la culebra chata de Baird in Mexican Spanish, is a species of snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae.^[1] The species is native to central Mexico.

Etymology

The specific name, bairdi, is in honor of American zoologist Spencer Fullerton Baird.^[2]

Geographic range

S. bairdi is found in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes, southern Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Veracruz.^[1]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of S. bairdi are forest and shrubland, at altitudes of, but it has also been found in agricultural areas.

Description

In S. bairdi the rostral does not have free edges. The pale vertebral stripe is three dorsal scales wide on the neck, and tapers to one dorsal scale wide on the posterior third of the body.^[1]

Behavior

S. bairdi is terrestrial.

Diet

S. bairdi preys upon amphibians, small lizards, and small mammals.

Reproduction

S. bairdi is oviparous.^[1] An adult female may lay one or two clutches per season.

Further reading

• Jan [G] (1860). Iconographie générale des Ophidiens, Première livraison. [Illustrated by [[species:Ferdinando Sordelli|Ferdinando Sordelli]] ]. Paris: De Soye et Bouchet. Index + Plates I–VI. (Salvadora bairdi, new species, Plate II, figure 2, ten views). (in French).
• Heimes P (2016). Snakes of Mexico: Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. I. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Edition Chimaira. 572 pp. .
• Liner EA (2007). "A Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of México". Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University (80): 1–59.

Notes and References

1. www.reptile-database.org.
2. [species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]