Pituophis is a genus of nonvenomous colubrid snakes, 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 (pítus, "pine"), and (óphis, "snake").
Geographic range Species and subspecies within the genus Pituophis are found throughout Mexico, the Southern and Western United States and Western Canada.Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. (paperback). (Genus Pituophis, pp. 198–201 + Plate 27 + figure 57 + Map 147).
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.
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.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).
Species and subspecies
Image Scientific name Common name Subspecies Distribution Pituophis catenifer gopher snake P. c. affinis – Sonoran gopher snake P. c. annectens – San Diego gopher snake P. c. bimaris – central Baja California gopher snake P. c. catenifer – Pacific gopher snake P. c. coronalis – Coronado Island gopher snake P. c. deserticola – Great Basin gopher snake P. c. fulginatus – San Martin Island gopher snake P. c. pumilis – Santa Cruz Island gopher snake P. c. sayi – bullsnake North America Pituophis deppei Mexican bullsnake P. d. deppei – southern Mexican pine snake P. d. jani – northern Mexican pine snakecentral, Mexico Pituophis insulanus Cedros Island gopher snake Isla de Cedros, Mexico Pituophis lineaticollis Middle American gopher snake P. l. gibsoni P. l. lineaticollis From Mexico city, south through Mexico and to Guatemala Pituophis melanoleucus pine snake P. m. lodingi – black pine snake P. m. melanoleucus – northern pine snake P. m. mugitus – Florida pine snakesoutheastern United States Pituophis ruthveni Louisiana pine snake west-central Louisiana and East Texas Pituophis vertebralis Cape gopher snake southern Baja California Sur, Mexico.
References
Further reading
External links
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 History 10: 599–610.