Sonora is a genus of small harmless colubrid snakes commonly referred to as ground snakes, which are endemic to North America.
Distribution and habitat Species of the genus Sonora range through central and northern Mexico, and the southwestern United States.
They are sand dwellers.Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. . (Subfamily Colubrinae, Genus Sonora, p. 324).
Species Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Sonora aemula (Cope, 1879) filetail ground snake Sonora annulata Colorado Desert shovelnose snakeSE California, Arizona, Baja California Sonora cincta (Cope, 1861) Arizona ground snake, banded burrowing snake, horse snake, red and black ground snake, Sonora ringed snakeUSA (S Arizona), Mexico (N Baja California Sur, W Sonora) Sonora episcopa (Kennicott, 1859) ground snakeUSA (Missouri, N Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, SE Colorado, S/E New Mexico), Mexico (Coahuila) Sonora fasciata (Cope, 1892) variable sand snake, banded sand snakeMexico (Baja California) Sonora michoacanensis (Dugès, 1884) Michoacán ground snakeMexico (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan; Morelos, Puebla) Sonora mosaueri Stickel, 1938 Mosauer's ground snakeMexico (Baja California Sur)Sonora mutabilis Stickel, 1943 Michoacán ground snakeMexico (Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, southern Zacatecas, S Sinaloa) Sonora occipitalis western shovelnose snakeUSA (SE California, S Nevada, SW Arizona), Mexico (Baja California Norte) Sonora palarostris Klauber, 1937 Sonoran shovelnose snakeUSA (S Arizona), Mexico (Sonora) Sonora savagei Savage's sand snakeBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Chilomeniscus savagei, p. 233; Sonora taylori, p. 262).Mexico (Baja California) Sonora semiannulata Baird & Girard, 1853 western ground snakeUSA (W Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, S Colorado, S Kansas, SW Missouri, SE Utah, California, Arkansas), Mexico (N Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, NW Nuevo León, NE Durango) Sonora straminea variable sand snakeMexico (S Baja California Sur, Sinaloa) Sonora taylori Taylor's ground snakeS Texas, adjacent Mexico
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Sonora.
References
External links
Further reading Baird SF, Girard CF (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. (Sonora, new genus, p. 117). Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. (hardcover), (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 213). 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 Sonora, p. 197). Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. (paperback). (Genus Sonora, p. 166).