Coluber constrictor oaxaca

Coluber constrictor oaxaca, commonly known as the Mexican racer, is a nonvenomous colubrid snake, a subspecies of the eastern racer (Coluber constrictor).

Coluber constrictor oaxaca
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Coluber
Species:
C. constrictor
Subspecies:
C. c. oaxaca
Trinomial name
Coluber constrictor oaxaca
(Jan, 1863)
Synonyms

Geographic range

It is found primarily in Mexico from Tamaulipas to Vera Cruz, with isolated records of it occurring in Nuevo León, Coahuila, Durango, Colima, Oaxaca and Chiapas. The subspecies also ranges as far north as the United States in southern Texas and as far south as Guatemala. It is known to intergrade with the eastern yellow-bellied racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris).

Description

Adults of Coluber constrictor oaxaca are 51–102 cm (20-40 inches) in total length.[4]

They are greenish dorsally and yellowish ventrally. They have eight upper labials and eight lower labials.[5]

Juveniles have dark, narrow, close-spaced crossbands on the anterior part of the body, unlike the mid-dorsal blotches of juveniles of most other subspecies of Coluber constrictor.[4]

References
  1. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families...Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I.- XXVIII. ("Zamenis oaxacæ", p. 386.)
  2. Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ),... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I.- XXV. (Zamenis stejnegerianus, p. 621.)
  3. Wright, A.H., and A.A. Wright. 1957. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Comstock. Ithaca and London. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (Coluber constrictor stejnegerianus, pp. 149-152, Figure 47.)
  4. Conant, R. 1975. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 429 pp. ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Coluber constrictor oaxaca, pp. 180-181, Figure 40. + Map 139.)
  5. Smith, H.M., and E.D. Brodie, Jr. 1982. Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. Golden Press. New York. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 (paperback). (Coluber constrictor oaxaca, p. 190.)

Further reading
  • Jan, G. 1863. Elenco sistematico degli ofidi descritti e disegnati per l'iconografia generale. A. Lombardi. Milan.
    vii + 143 pp. (Coryphodon oaxaca, p. 63.)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.