Long-nosed snake

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Long-nosed snake
Texas long-nosed snake
Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Rhinocheilus
Species:
R. lecontei
Binomial name
Rhinocheilus lecontei
Baird & Girard, 1853
Synonyms

The long-nosed snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei) is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America. It has two recognized subspecies. The other species in the genus were previously considered subspecies. [citation needed]

Etymology[edit]

The specific name, lecontei, commemorates American entomologist John Lawrence Le Conte (1825-1883).[5]

Description[edit]

The long-nosed snake is distinguished by a long, slightly upturned snout, which is the origin of its common name. It is tricolor, vaguely resembling a coral snake, with black and red saddling on a yellow or cream-colored background. Cream-colored spots within the black saddles are a distinct characteristic of the long-nosed snake. It differs from all other harmless snakes in the United States by having undivided subcaudal scales.[6] The total length (including tail) of adults is usually 22–32 in (56–81 cm), but the maximum record total length is 41 in (100 cm).[7]

Behavior[edit]

R. lecontei is a shy, nocturnal burrowing snake. It spends most of its time buried underground.[citation needed]

Diet[edit]

The long-nosed snake feeds on lizards, amphibians, and sometimes smaller snakes and infrequently rodents.[citation needed]

Reproduction[edit]

R. lecontei is oviparous,[8] laying clutches of 4-9 eggs in the early summer, which hatch in the late summer or early fall.[citation needed]

Defense[edit]

The long-nosed snake is not apt to bite, but will release a foul smelling musk and blood[9] from the cloaca as a defense mechanism if harassed.

Habitat[edit]

The preferred natural habitats of the long-nosed snake are desert, grassland, shrubland, and savanna.[1]

Geographic range[edit]

R. lecontei is found in northern Mexico from San Luis Potosí to Chihuahua, and into the southwestern United States, in California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas,[8] Oklahoma,[10] and Texas.[8]

Subspecies[edit]

Texas long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus

In captivity[edit]

The long-nosed snake is not often found in the exotic pet trade as it frequently rejects rodent-based diets that are most readily available for captive snakes.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hammerson GA, Frost DR, Santos-Barrera G (2007). "Rhinocheilus lecontei ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2007: https://dx.doi.org/10.1305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63909A12725667.en. Accessed on 02 March 2022.
  2. ^ Cope ED (1866). "On the REPTILIA and BATRACHIA of the Sonoran Province of the Nearctic Region". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. "1866" [18]: 300-314. ("Rhinochilus [sic] lecontei ", p. 304).
  3. ^ Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. ("Rhinochilus [sic] lecontii ", pp. 212-213).
  4. ^ Stejneger L, Barbour T (1917). A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 125 pp. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, p. 91).
  5. ^ 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. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, p. 154).
  6. ^ Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 194-196, Figure 61 + Plate 21).
  7. ^ Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016).
  8. ^ a b c Species Rhinocheilus lecontei at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  9. ^ McCoy CJ Jr, Bianculli AV (1966). "Defensive behavior of Rhinocheilus lecontei ". Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society 5 (4): 166.
  10. ^ T. Robyn captured, identified, and released one near Lawton, Oklahoma, 2010.

External links[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhinocheilus lecontei.
  • Baird SF, Girard C (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. (Rhinocheilus, new genus, p. 120; R. lecontei, new species, pp. 120–121).
  • Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. ISBN 0-394-50824-6. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 649-650 + Plates 593, 609).
  • Conant, Roger, Bridges, William (1939). What Snake Is That? A Field Guide to the Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. (With 108 drawings by Edmond Malnate). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company. Frontispiece map + viii + 163 pp. + Plates A-C, 1-32. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, p. 86 + Plate 14, Figure 41).
  • Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 392-393 + Plate 37).
  • 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). (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 164–165).
  • 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. ISBN 0-395-98272-3 (paperback). (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 370–371 + Plate 44 + Map 155).
  • 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 Rhinocheilus, p. 630-633 + Figure 19 on p. 69). (species Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 633–644, Figures 183-187, Map 48).
  • Zim HS, Smith HM (1956). Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar American Species: A Golden Nature Guide. Revised Edition. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. ("LONG-NOSED SNAKE", Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 101, 156).
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