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Western Shovelnose Snake Range Map






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Western Shovelnose Snake Juvenile

Home »» Snakes »» Colubridae (Colubrids) »» Western Shovelnose Snake (Sonora occipitalis)


Western Shovelnose Snake (Sonora occipitalis)STATUS





Description: Adults are 11 to 17 inches long. A small rounded snake with smooth, unkeeled, shiny scales. The head is narrow with a large spade-like scale on the tip of a flat shovel-like snout, a countersunk lower jaw, and nasal valves. The ground color is cream or yellowish and the body is circled with 24 or more dark brown bands, usually with no red crossbands between them. Most dark bands do not completely encircle the body.


Habitat: Inhabits dry desert habitats with loose sand and often with little vegetation - washes, dunes, sandy flats, rocky hillsides.


Range: The species Chionactis occipitalis - Western Shovel-nosed Snake, occurs from the Southern California deserts into Nevada, western Arizona, Baja California and northern Sonora, Mexico.


Found in these States: AZ | CA | NV


Diet: Eats invertebrates: insects, scorpions, spiders, centipedes, larval insects and moths, often while the snake is burrowing.


Reproduction: Females are oviparous, laying eggs late spring through summer.


Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.


Taxonomy:

»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
   »» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
     »» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
       »» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
         »» Order: Squamata - Scaled Reptiles
           »» Suborder: Serpentes
             »» Superfamily: Colubroidea
               »» Family: Colubridae - Colubrids
                   »» Genus: Sonora
                     »» Species: Sonora occipitalis - Western Shovelnose Snake

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Western Shovelnose Snake", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.

 

 

 

 


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U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and Their Mimics     Venomous Snakebite in the Western United States     Venomous Snakes Of The Southeast     The 10 Most Dangerous Snakes in the United States and Canada



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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 
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