Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853

Hernández-Jiménez, Carlos A., Flores-Villela, Oscar, Aguilar-Bremauntz, Aranzazú & Campbell, Jonathan A., 2021, Phylogenetic relationships based on morphological data and taxonomy of the genus Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853 (Reptilia, Colubridae), European Journal of Taxonomy 764 (1), pp. 85-118 : 90

Genus Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853

Salvadora Baird & Girard, 1853: 104–105 .

Phimothyra Cope, 1861: 566 .

Type species

Salvadora grahamiae Baird & Girard, 1853 .

Diagnosis

Usually nine-plate supracephalic scaling on the head; enlarged rostral scale that intercedes between the internasals and sometimes has free edges; two nasal scales; preoculars and postoculars present; loreal scale simple or divided; smooth body scales sometimes with two apical pits; 17 rows of scales around the body on the anterior third of body and midbody; cloacal scale divided; subcaudal scales in two series; elongated head; large eyes; round pupil; long tail. Hemipenis simple with spines at the base, replaced midway by calyces that cover half the length of each organ: sulcus simple with a long basal spine. Normally from 9 to 15 maxillary teeth followed by a diastema and three enlarged teeth (9–15+ 3). Color pattern consisting of two longitudinal, dorsolateral and lateral lines on each side of the body and a pale vertebral line generally present.

Etymology

Derived from the Latin ‘ salvator ’, which means ‘savior’, and ‘ adora ’, which means ‘honor’, an explicit homage to the collector of the type species S. grahamiae, Col. J.D. Graham.

Distribution

Southern United States from southern California, western Nevada, Utah, to Arizona, New Mexico, to central Texas; in Mexico, the Baja California Peninsula and Sonora south to the lowlands of Chiapas and Guatemala excluding the Yucatán Peninsula.

Remarks

The phylogenetic hypothesis and the character revision reveal that there are two groups within the genus, as previously suggested by Smith (1938, 1941): mexicana and grahamiae .