Range in California: Red
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Banded adult, Inyo County
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Banded adult, Inyo County |
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Striped juvenile, Imperial County |
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Striped adult, Old Woman Mtns. San Bernardino County © 2005 Michael Rathbun. |
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Banded adult, Lassen County © Loren Prins
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Preserved specimen (black and white banded morph) from the Bartlett hills near the town of Joshua Tree, San Bernardino County. © Jeremiah Easter |
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Striped adult, Arizona,
Courtesy of Randy Babb |
Banded adult, Arizona
Courtesy of Randy Babb
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Habitat, Lassen County © Loren Prins |
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Habitat, rocky wash, 5,500 ft.,
Inyo County
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Habitat, White/Inyo Mountains,
Inyo County |
Habitat, next to Colorado River, Imperial County |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. There are shallow grooves on the outer sides of the rear teeth which indicates that this snake may produce a mild venom, but it is not dangerous to humans. |
| Size |
| 4 - 18 inches long (10 - 46 cm) including hatchlings. Typically 8 - 12 inches. |
| Appearance |
| A small snake with a round body, smooth glossy scales, and a head barely wider than the neck. Variable in color and pattern - this snake may be banded, striped, or solid in color. Often several colors and patterns are found in the same location. Some examples of colors and patterns are: banded with black and gray or yellowish with or without reddish saddles along the back on the light bands; solid grayish with a darker head; banded with orange or red and black; banded with pink and gray; reddish-orange above with gray sides; and gray with a thin orange stripe along the back. The underside can be whitish or yellowish with or without dark crossbands. |
| Behavior |
| Secretive but not uncommon. Terrestrial, remaining underground in the daytime, surfacing at night or during heavy rains. Sometimes seen on roads at night, often discovered beneath surface debris, especially rocks. |
| Diet |
| Eats small invertebrates, including spiders, scorpions, centipedes, crickets, and insect larvae. |
| Reproduction |
| Lays eggs from June - August. |
| Range |
| In California, occurs from eastern San Diego county east to the Colorado River, north into the Mojave Desert as far west as 29 palms and Barstow, and north along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Nevada. Ranges farther south into Baja California, north into Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, and south into Mexico. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits areas with surface cover and some moisture: grassland, riverbottoms, desert flats, ranchland, sand hummocks, open rocky hillsides with loose soil, sandy washes, dry streambeds, and riparian thickets. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Two subspecies of Sonora semiannulata are recognized since 2000: S. s. semiannulata - Variable Groundsnake, and S. s. taylori - Southern Texas Groundsnake. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Sonora |
North American Groundsnakes |
| Species |
semiannulata |
Western Groundsnake |
Subspecies
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semiannulata |
Variable Groundsnake |
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Original Description |
Sonora semiannulata - Baird and Girard, 1853 - Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, p. 117
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Sonora - region of Sonora - type collected in Sonora, Mexico
semiannulata - Latin - semi - half and annulata - ringed - refers to the body cross bands which fail to cross the venter
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Previously recognized as Sonora semiannulata (No subspecies recognized.)
Western Ground Snake
Ground Snake
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
C. o. annulata - Colorado Desert Shovel-nosed Snake
C. o. occipitalis - Mojave Shovel-nosed Snake
C. o. talpina - Nevada Shovel-nosed Snake
C. stramineus - Variable Sandsnake
R. l. lecontei - Western Long-nosed Snake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This snake is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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