Sonora annulata ( Baird 1859 )

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 : 975

Sonora annulata ( Baird 1859)

Lamprosoma annulatum Baird 1859 . Holotype: In the USNM (two cotypes 2105–2106). Type locality: Colorado Desert , California.

Chionactis occipitalis annulatus Stickel 1943:128

Chionactis occipitalis annulatus Mahrdt et al. 2001a :731.1

Chionactis annulata Wood et al. 2014:10

Diagnosis

Sonora annulata can be distinguished from all other Sonora, excepting S. occipitalis and S. palarostris , by the presence of a flattened, spadelike rostrum. Wood et al. (2014); distinguish S. annulata from S. occipitalis by the presence of black crossbands (as opposed to brown crossbands in S. occipitalis ) and the presence of a red secondary crossband. Sonora annulata can be distinguished from S. palarostris by having more than 23 crossbands (as opposed to less than 23 in S. palarostris ) according to Wood et al. (2014).

Variation

Wood et al. (2014) recognize two different subspecies of S. annulata , S. a. annulata and S. a klauberi. Sonora a. annulata is distinguished from S. a. klauberi by the absence of maculations on dorsal scales and the lower proportion of maculations in the centre of scales. Sonora a. annulata is restricted to the Colorado Desert basin, while S. a. klauberi is restricted to the remainder of the Sonoran desert.

Distribution

Sonora anunulata is found in the Colorado and Sonoran Deserts of Arizona and California in the USA, and in the states of Baja California and Sonora in Mexico ( Figure 5 ) .

Remarks

This species is in the subgenus Chionactis with S. occipitalis and S. palarostris .

Figures

Figure 5. Map of the geographic distribution from IUCN and georeferenced occurrence records from GBIF (grey crosses) for the subgenus Chionactis, including Sonora occipitalis, S. palarostris and S. annulata. The top of the map has images of the bicoloured (a), and tricoloured (b) morphs of S. occipitalis. The side panel (c) depicts S. plarostris. The bottom panel depicts the bicolour (d) and tricolour (e) morphs of S. annulata. Photos by T. Brennan (a, b, and c) and M. Mulks (d and e). Colours of shaded ranges and circular points on the map correspond to the phylogenetic tree in Figures 1 and 2.