Sonora fasciata ( Cope 1892 )

Cox, Christian L., Davis Rabosky, Alison R., Holmes, Iris A., Reyes-Velasco, Jacobo, Roelke, Corey E., Smith, Eric N., Flores-Villela, Oscar, McGuire, Jimmy A. & Campbell, Jonathan A., 2018, Synopsis and taxonomic revision of three genera in the snake tribe Sonorini, Journal of Natural History 52 (13 - 16), pp. 945-988 : 972

Sonora fasciata ( Cope 1892)

Chilomeniscus stramineus fasciatus Cope 1892:595 . Holotype: USNM 12630 . Type locality:

La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Chilomeniscus stramineus esterensis Hoard 1939:45–46 . Holotype: LMK 30368. Type local-

ity: Estero Salina, Baja California Sur. Chilomeniscus stramineus fasciatus Cope 1892:595 : Chilomeniscus cinctus Banta and Leviton 1963:321 Chilomeniscus stramineus Grismer et al. 2002:28 Chilomeniscus fasciatus Holm 2008:31

Diagnosis

Sonora fasciata can be distinguished from all other Sonora except for S. straminea and S. cincta by the presence of an elongated rostrum. Sonora fasciata is sympatric or narrowly allopatric with S. straminea and S. cincta . Sonora fasciata can be distinguished from S. straminea by the lack of apical maculations. There are no simple morphological measurements to distinguish S. fasciata and S. cincta , but Holm (2008) presented a formula of head squamation to distinguish these two taxa. Geographic range may in fact be the most reliable way to distinguish S. fasciata from S. cincta (see below).

Variation

This snake has both geographic colour pattern variation and colour polymorphism. In southern populations, both banded and unbanded specimens can be found in a single population. All specimens from Baja California Norte are banded.

Distribution

Sonora fasciata is found from the central Baja California Peninsula at least as far north as Las Tres Virgenes to southern Baja California Sur near El Triunfo ( Figure 4 ) .

Remarks

This species is in the subgenus Chilomeniscus .

Figures

Figure 4. Map of the geographic distribution from IUCN and georeferenced occurrence records from GBIF (grey crosses) for the subgenus Chilomeniscus, including Sonora cincta, S. fasciata and S. straminea. The top of the map has images of the banded (a) morph of S. cincta. The side panel (b) depicts S. straminea. The bottom panel depicts the banded (c) morph of S. fasciata. Photos by C. L. Cox (a) and J. A. McGuire (b, c). Colours of shaded ranges and circular points on the map correspond to the phylogenetic tree in Figures 1 and 2.