Sonora (snake)

Sonora
Western ground snake (Sonora semiannulata)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Colubrinae
Genus:	Sonora Baird & Girard, 1853
Type species
Sonora semiannulata
Synonyms[1]
Chilomeniscus Chionactis Contia Homalocranium Homalosoma Lamprosoma Ogmius Scolecophis

Sonora is a genus of small harmless colubrid snakes commonly referred to as ground snakes, which are endemic to North America.

Distribution and habitat

Species of the genus Sonora range through central and northern Mexico, and the southwestern United States.

They are sand dwellers.[2]

Species

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
	Sonora aemula (Cope, 1879)	filetail ground snake
	Sonora annulata (Baird, 1859)	Colorado Desert shovelnose snake	SE California, Arizona, Baja California
	Sonora cincta (Cope, 1861)	Arizona ground snake, banded burrowing snake, horse snake, red and black ground snake, Sonora ringed snake[1]	USA (S Arizona), Mexico (N Baja California Sur, W Sonora)
	Sonora episcopa (Kennicott, 1859)	ground snake	USA (Missouri, N Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, SE Colorado, S/E New Mexico), Mexico (Coahuila)
	Sonora fasciata (Cope, 1892)	variable sand snake, banded sand snake	Mexico (Baja California)
	Sonora michoacanensis (Dugès, 1884)	Michoacán ground snake	Mexico (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan; Morelos, Puebla)
	Sonora mosaueri Stickel, 1938	Mosauer's ground snake	Mexico (Baja California Sur)
	Sonora mutabilis Stickel, 1943	Michoacán ground snake	Mexico (Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, southern Zacatecas, S Sinaloa)
	Sonora occipitalis (Hallowell, 1854)	western shovelnose snake	USA (SE California, S Nevada, SW Arizona), Mexico (Baja California Norte)
	Sonora palarostris Klauber, 1937	Sonoran shovelnose snake	USA (S Arizona), Mexico (Sonora)
	Sonora savagei Cliff, 1954	Savage's sand snake[3]	Mexico (Baja California)
	Sonora semiannulata Baird & Girard, 1853	western ground snake	USA (W Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, S Colorado, S Kansas, SW Missouri, SE Utah, California, Arkansas), Mexico (N Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, NW Nuevo León, NE Durango)
	Sonora straminea (Cope, 1860)	variable sand snake	Mexico (S Baja California Sur, Sinaloa)
	Sonora taylori (Boulenger, 1894)	Taylor's ground snake[3]	S Texas, adjacent Mexico

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Sonora.

References

1. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes). ("Genus Chilomeniscus", pp. 116–120; "Genus Sonora", pp. 669–692).
2. Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. ISBN 0-7167-0020-4. (Subfamily Colubrinae, Genus Sonora, p. 324).
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Chilomeniscus savagei, p. 233; Sonora taylori, p. 262).

External links

• Genus Sonora at The Reptile Database

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. (Sonora, new genus, p. 117).
• Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 213).
• 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 Sonora, p. 197).
• Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 166).