Salvadora (snake) explained

Salvadora is a genus of colubrid snakes commonly called patchnose snakes or patch-nosed snakes, which are endemic to the western United States and Mexico.^[1] They are characterized by having a distinctive scale on the tip of the snout.

Species and subspecies

The following species and subspecies are recognized as being valid.^[2]

• Salvadora bairdi – Baird's patchnose snake^[3]
• Salvadora deserticola – Big Bend patchnose snake
• Salvadora grahamiae – mountain patchnose snake
• Salvadora gymnorhachis
• Salvadora hexalepis – western patchnose snake
  • Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis – desert patchnose snake
  • Salvadora hexalepis klauberi – Baja California patchnose snake
  • Salvadora hexalepis mojavensis – Mojave patchnose snake
  • Salvadora hexalepis virgultea – coast patchnose snake
• Salvadora intermedia – Oaxacan patchnose snake
• Salvadora lemniscata – Pacific patchnose snake
• Salvadora lineata – Texas patchnose snake
• Salvadora mexicana – Mexican patchnose snake

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. (Salvadora, new genus, p. 104).
• Hernández-Jiménez CA, Flores-Villela O, Aguilar-Bremauntz A, Campbell JA (2021). “Phylogenetic relationships based on morphological data and taxonomy of the genus Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853”. European Journal of Taxonomy 764: 85–118.
• Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus Salvadora, p. 135).
• Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. . (Genus Salvadora, p. 194).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. xiii + 533 pp. . (Genus Salvadora, p. 356).
• 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 Salvadora, p. 644).
• Zim HS, Smith HM (1956). Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar Species: A Golden Nature Guide. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. (Genus Salvadora, pp. 88, 156).

Notes and References

1. [Roger Conant (herpetologist)|Conant, Roger]
2. www.reptile-database.org.
3. [species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]