Tantilla Explained

Tantilla is a large genus of harmless New World snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus includes 66 species, which are commonly known as centipede snakes, black-headed snakes, and flathead snakes.^{[1] [2]}

Description

Tantilla are small snakes, rarely exceeding 20 cm (8 inches) in total length (including tail). They are generally varying shades of brown, red or black in color. Some species have a brown body with a black head.

Behavior

Tantilla are nocturnal, secretive snakes. They spend most of their time buried in the moist leaf litter of semi-forested regions or under rocks and debris.

Diet

The diet of snakes of the genus Tantilla consists primarily of invertebrates, including scorpions, centipedes, spiders, and various insects.

Species

• Tantilla albiceps Barbour, 1925 – Barbour's centipede snake – Panama
• Tantilla alticola (Boulenger, 1903) – Boulenger's centipede snake – Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
• Tantilla andinista Wilson & Mena, 1980 – Andes centipede snake – Ecuador
• Tantilla armillata Cope, 1876 – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
• Tantilla atriceps (Günther, 1895) – Mexican blackhead snake – US (Arizona, Texas, New Mexico), northern Mexico
• Tantilla bairdi Stuart, 1941 – Baird's black-headed snake^[3] – Guatemala
• Tantilla berguidoi Batista, Mebert, Lotzkat & Wilson, 2016 – Chucantí centipede snake – Panama
• Tantilla bocourti (Günther, 1895) – Bocourt's black-headed snake^[3] – Mexico
• Tantilla boipiranga Sawaya & Sazima, 2003 – Brazil
• Tantilla brevicauda Mertens, 1952 – Mertens's centipede snake – El Salvador
• Tantilla briggsi Savitzky & H.M. Smith, 1971 – Briggs's centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla calamarina Cope, 1876 – Pacific Coast centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla capistrata Cope, 1876 – Capistrata centipede snake – Peru
• Tantilla carolina Palacios-Aguilar, Fucsko, Jiménez-Arcos, Wilson, & Mata-Silva, 2022 – Carolina’s little snake – Mexico
• Tantilla cascadae Wilson & Meyer, 1981 – Michoacán centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla ceboruca Canseco-Márquez et al., 2007 – Mexico
• Tantilla coronadoi Hartweg, 1944 – Guerreran centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla coronata Baird & Girard, 1853 – southeastern crowned snake – southeastern United States
• Tantilla cucullata Minton, 1956 – Big Bend blackhead snake – US (Texas), Mexico
• Tantilla cuniculator H.M. Smith, 1939 – Peten centipede snake – south Mexico, Belize, Guatemala
• Tantilla deppei (Bocourt) – Deppe's centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla excelsa McCranie & E.N. Smith, 2017 – Honduras
• Tantilla flavilineata H.M. Smith & Burger, 1950 – yellow-lined centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla gottei McCranie & E.N. Smith, 2017 – Honduras
• Tantilla gracilis Baird & Girard, 1853 – flathead snake – southwestern United States, northern Mexico^[4]
• Tantilla hendersoni Stafford, 2004 – Peten centipede snake – Belize
• Tantilla hobartsmithi Taylor, 1936 – southwestern blackhead snake – southwestern United States, northern Mexico
• Tantilla impensa Campbell, 1998 – Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
• Tantilla insulamontana Wilson & Mena, 1980 – mountain centipede snake – Ecuador
• Tantilla jani (Günther, 1895) – Jan's centipede snake – Guatemala
• Tantilla johnsoni Wilson, Vaughn & Dixon, 1999 – Mexico
• Tantilla lempira Wilson & Mena, 1980 – Mena's centipede snake – Honduras
• Tantilla lydia Antúnez-Fonseca, Castro, España, Townsend & Wilson, 2020 – Honduras
• Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) – blackhead snake – Mexico, Central and South America.
• Tantilla miyatai Wilson & Knight, 1987 – Ecuador
• Tantilla moesta (Günther, 1863) – blackbelly centipede snake – Mexico, Guatemala, Belize
• Tantilla nigra (Boulenger, 1914) – black centipede snake – Colombia
• Tantilla nigriceps Kennicott, 1860 – plains blackhead snake – southwestern United States, northern Mexico
• Tantilla oaxacae Wilson & Meyer, 1971 – Oaxacan centipede snake Mexico
• Tantilla olympia Townsend, Wilson, Medina-Flores & Herrera, 2013 – Honduras
• Tantilla oolitica Telford, 1966 – rim rock crowned snake – US (Florida)
• Tantilla petersi Wilson, 1979 – Peters's blackhead snake
• Tantilla planiceps (Blainville, 1835) – western blackhead snake – United States (California), northern Mexico
• Tantilla psittaca McCranie, 2011 – Honduras
• Tantilla relicta Telford, 1966 – Florida crowned snake – US (Florida)
• Tantilla reticulata (Cope, 1860) – reticulate centipede snake – Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
• Tantilla robusta Canseco-Márquez, Mendelson & Gutiérrez-Mayén, 2002 – Mexico
• Tantilla rubra Cope, 1876 – Big Bend blackhead snake – Guatemala, Mexico
• Tantilla ruficeps Cope, 1894 – Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama
• Tantilla schistosa (Bocourt, 1883) – red earth centipede snake – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
• Tantilla semicincta (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) – ringed centipede snake – Panama, Colombia, Venezuela
• Tantilla sertula Wilson & Campbell, 2000 – Mexico
• Tantilla shawi Taylor, 1949 – Potosí centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla slavensi Pérez-Higareda, H.M. Smith & R.B. Smith, 1985 – Slavens's centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla stenigrammi McCranie & E.N. Smith, 2017 – Honduras
• Tantilla striata Dunn, 1928 – striped centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla supracincta (W. Peters, 1863) – banded centipede snake – Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador
• Tantilla taeniata Bocourt, 1883 – Central American centipede snake – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua
• Tantilla tayrae Wilson, 1983 – Volcán Tacaná centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla tecta Campbell & E.N. Smith, 1997 – white-striped centipede snake – Guatemala
• Tantilla tjiasmantoi (Koch & Venegas, 2016) – Tjiasmanto's centipede snake – Peru
• Tantilla trilineata (W. Peters, 1880) – Brazilian three-lined centipede snake – Brazil
• Tantilla triseriata H.M. Smith & P.W. Smith, 1951 – Mexican three-lined centipede snake – Mexico
• Tantilla tritaeniata H.M. Smith & Williams, 1966 – three-banded centipede snake – Honduras
• Tantilla vermiformis (Hallowell, 1861) – Hallowell's centipede snake – Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvator
• Tantilla vulcani Campbell, 1998 – Guatemala and Mexico
• Tantilla wilcoxi Stejneger, 1902 – Chihuahuan blackhead snake – US (Arizona), northern Mexico
• Tantilla yaquia H.M. Smith, 1942 – Yaqui blackhead snake – US (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico

Nota bene

A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Tantilla.

Further reading

• Baird SF, Girard CF (1853). Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (Tantilla, new genus, p. 104).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. (paperback). (Genus Tantilla, pp. 397–399).
• Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (Genus Tantilla, p. 722; key species and subspecies of Tantilla, pp. 723–725).

Notes and References

1. Wilson, Larry David. 1982. Tantilla. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 303:1-4.
2. Wilson, Larry David, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2015. A checklist and key to the snakes of the Tantilla clade (Squamata: Colubridae), with comments on taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 418–498.
3. [species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]
4. [species:Laurence M. Hardy|Hardy LM]