Hypsiglena jani
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| Hypsiglena jani | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Genus: | Hypsiglena |
| Species: | H. jani
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| Binomial name | |
| Hypsiglena jani (Dugès, 1865)
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| The distribution of Hypsiglena jani (brown), which now includes the two former subspecies Hypsiglena torquata dunklei (orange), and Hypsiglena torquata texana (yellow). | |
| Synonyms | |
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Hypsiglena jani, commonly known as the Texas night snake or the Chihuahuan night snake, is a small species of mildly venomous snake in the subfamily Dipsadinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northeastern Mexico.
Etymology
[edit]The epithet, jani, is in honor of Italian taxonomist Giorgio Jan.[8]
Description
[edit]H. jani grows from 10 to 16 inches (25 to 41 centimetres) in total length (including tail), record 20 inches (51 cm).[9] It is typically a light gray or tan in color, with dark brown or dark gray blotching down the back,[10] and has an unmarked underside.[citation needed] It has smooth dorsal scales.[10] The eye has a vertically elliptical pupil.[10] H. jani is rear-fanged, and is considered to be venomous, though it is not dangerous to humans.[citation needed]
Behavior
[edit]As the common names imply, H. jani is a primarily nocturnal snake.[citation needed]
Diet
[edit]The diet of H. jani consists of primarily lizards, but it will also eat smaller snakes and occasionally soft bodied insects.[citation needed]
Habitat
[edit]H. jani prefers semi-arid habitats with rocky soils.[citation needed]
Reproduction
[edit]H. jani is an oviparous species that breeds in the spring rainy season, laying 4–6 eggs that take approximately 8 weeks to incubate before hatching. The eggs average 27 mm (1.1 in) long by 10 mm (3⁄8 in) wide. The hatchlings are about 15 cm (5.9 in) in total length.[6]
Geographic range
[edit]H. jani ranges from southern Kansas to southern Colorado, and south throughout New Mexico, the western half of Texas to central Mexico.[1]
Subspecies
[edit]Three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]
- Hypsiglena jani dunklei Taylor, 1938
- Hypsiglena jani jani (Dugès, 1865)
- Hypsiglena jani texana Stejneger, 1893
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Hypsiglena.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Hammerson, G.A. (2019). "Hypsiglena jani ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T90067384A90067431. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Species Hypsiglena jani at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ Stejneger L, Barbour T (1917). A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 125 pp. (Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus texana, p. 93).
- ^ Taylor EH (1938). "On Mexican Snakes of the Genera Trimorphodon and Hypsiglena ". University of Kansas Science Bulletin 25 (16): 357–383. (Hypsiglena torquata dunklei, new subspecies, pp. 374–375 + Plate XXXVII, figure 1).
- ^ Global Names Index. gni.globalnames.org.
- ^ a b Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (Hypsiglena torquata texana, pp. 326–330, Figure 101 + Map 30 on p. 315).
- ^ Mulcahy DG (2007). "Molecular systematics of neotropical cat-eyed snakes: a test of the monophyly of Leptodeirini (Colubridae: Dipsadinae) with implications for character evolution and biogeography". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 92: 483–500. (Hypsiglena jani).
- ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Hypsiglena jani, p. 133).
- ^ Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Hypsiglena torquata texana, p. 217 + Plate 33 + Map 170).
- ^ a b c Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Hypsiglena jani, pp409410 + Plate 39).
Further reading
[edit]- Dugès A (1865). "Du Liophis janii". Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences et Lettres de Montpellier 6: 32–33. (Liophis jani, new species). (in French).
- Stejneger L (1893). "Annotated List of the Reptiles and Batrachians Collected by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, with Descriptions of New Species". North American Fauna 7: 159–228. (Hypsiglena texana, new species, p. 205).
- Tanner WW (1944). "A Taxonomic Study of the Genus Hypsiglena ". Great Basin Naturalist 5 (3 & 4): 25–92. (Hypsiglena dunklei, p. 48; H. ochrorhynchus janii, pp. 48–51; and H. o. texana, pp. 51–54).
External links
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