Pituophis

Pituophis
Pacific gopher snakePituophis catenifer catenifer
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Tribe:	Lampropeltini
Genus:	PituophisHolbrook, 1842
Synonyms
Churchilla, Elaphis, Epiglottophis, Pityophis, Rhinechis

Pituophis is a genus of nonvenomouscolubridsnakes, commonly referred to as gopher snakes, pine snakes, and bullsnakes, which are endemic to North America. They are often yellow or cream in color with dark spots and a dark line across their face. Some species can exceed seven feet in length. Gopher snakes can live for 15 years. The gopher snake is commonly misidentified as a rattlesnake because of its similar coloration and its defensive behavior when feeling threatened. A scared gopher snake will flatten its head, hiss loudly, and shake its tail rapidly, doing a very convincing rattlesnake imitation.

Nomenclature

The genus name Pituophis is a Latinized modern scientific Greek compound Πιτυόφις : "pine snake"; from Ancient Greek: πίτυς (pítus, "pine"), and Ancient Greek: ὄφις (óphis, "snake").

Geographic range

Species and subspecies within the genusPituophis are found throughout Mexico, the Southern and Western United States and Western Canada.^[1]

Description

All species of Pituophis are large and powerfully built. The head is relatively small in proportion to the body and it is only slightly distinct from the neck. The rostral is enlarged and elongated, imparting a characteristic somewhat pointed shape to the head. All the species occurring in the United States have four prefrontals instead of the usual two.^[1]

Modified epiglottis

In all snakes of the genus Pituophis, the epiglottis is peculiarly modified so that it is thin, erect and flexible. When a stream of air is forced from the trachea, the epiglottis vibrates, thereby producing the peculiarly loud, hoarse hissing for which bullsnakes, gopher snakes, and pine snakes are well known.^[2]

Species and subspecies

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Subspecies	Distribution
	Pituophis catenifer(Blainville, 1835)	gopher snake	P. c. affinis(Hallowell, 1852) – Sonoran gopher snake P. c. annectensBaird & Girard, 1853 – San Diego gopher snake P. c. bimarisKlauber, 1946 – central Baja California gopher snake P. c. catenifer(Blainville, 1835) – Pacific gopher snake P. c. coronalisKlauber, 1946 – Coronado Island gopher snake P. c. deserticolaStejneger, 1893 – Great Basin gopher snake P. c. fulginatusKlauber, 1946 – San Martin Island gopher snake P. c. pumilisKlauber, 1946 – Santa Cruz Island gopher snake[3] P. c. sayi(Schlegel, 1837) – bullsnake	North America
	Pituophis deppei(A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)	Mexican bullsnake	P. d. deppei(A.M.C. Duméril, 1853) – southern Mexican pine snake P. d. jani(Cope, 1861) – northern Mexican pine snake	central, Mexico
	Pituophis insulanusKlauber, 1946	Cedros Island gopher snake		Isla de Cedros, Mexico
	Pituophis lineaticollis(Cope, 1861)	Middle American gopher snake	P. l. gibsoniStuart, 1954 P. l. lineaticollis(Cope, 1861)	From Mexico city, south through Mexico and to Guatemala
	Pituophis melanoleucus(Daudin, 1803)	pine snake	P. m. lodingiBlanchard, 1924 – black pine snake P. m. melanoleucus(Daudin, 1803) – northern pine snake P. m. mugitusBarbour, 1921 – Florida pine snake	southeastern United States
	Pituophis ruthveniStull, 1929	Louisiana pine snake		west-central Louisiana and East Texas
	Pituophis vertebralis(Blainville, 1835)	Cape gopher snake		southern Baja California Sur, Mexico.

References

1. Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Genus Pituophis, pp. 198–201 + Plate 27 + figure 57 + Map 147).
2. 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 Pituophis, pp. 158–160).
3. "Santa Cruz Island Gopher Snake - Channel Islands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)".

Further reading

• Holbrook, John Edwards (1842). North American herpetology : or, A description of the reptiles inhabiting the United States. Vol. IV. Philadelphia: J. Dobson. p. 7.

External links

• Genus Pituophis at The Reptile Database
• Accounts of four subspecies, P. deppei deppei, P. deppei jani, P. lineaticollis lineaticollis and P. lineaticollis gibsoni, are given in Duellman WE (1960). "A Taxonomic Study of the Middle American Snake, Pituophis deppei ".University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History10: 599–610.