Common names: Pacific gopher snake, coast gopher snake, western gopher snake[5] (more here).
Pituophis catenifer is a species of non-venomous colubridsnakeendemic to North America. Nine subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies, P. c. catenifer, described here.[6] This snake is often mistaken for the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridus), but can be easily distinguished from a rattlesnake by the lack of a tail rattle, no black-and-white banding on its tail, and by the shape of its head, which is narrower than a rattlesnake's. Additionally, rattlesnakes (and indeed most vipers) possess a large venom gland located behind each eye, giving their heads a much rounder, more angular shape, as opposed to the more cylindrical, slender head shape of a gopher snake or other colubrid.
Etymology
The specific name, catenifer, is Latin for "chain-bearing", referring to the dorsal color pattern.
Description
Adult gopher snakes average between 36-84 in (91–213 cm) in length, or up to 6 or 7 feet, when fully mature.[5]Dorsally, gopher snakes are yellowish or a light, sandy brown, with a series of large, dark brown or black markings and smaller, darker spots along the sides. Ventrally, they are a lighter yellowish, either uniformly or with brown markings.[2] They also come in several morphs, depending on the subspecies.[citation needed]
Behavior
Sonoran gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer affinis), Doña Ana County, New Mexico (August 17, 2010)
The gopher snake has a unique defensive mechanism, in which it puffs up its body and curls itself into the classic strike pose of a rattlesnake. However, rather than delivering an open-mouthed strike, the gopher snake often strikes with a closed mouth, using its blunt nose to warn off possible predators. Additionally, gopher snakes vibrate their tails in a manner similar to rattlesnakes. One paper found that gopher snakes on islands lacking rattlesnakes vibrate their tails for shorter amounts of time than gopher snakes in mainland California, which is home to numerous rattlesnake species.[7] This suggests that gopher snake tail vibration may in fact be rattlesnake mimicry since the behavior appears to be breaking down in areas without rattlesnakes, perhaps because predators on these islands have no reason to evolve to avoid tail-vibrating snakes (rattlesnakes are venomous, gopher snakes are not).
Life expectancy
Wild gopher snakes typically live 12 to 15 years, but the oldest captive recorded lived over 33 years.[8]
Common names
Common names for this species, or its several subspecies, are: Pacific gopher snake, Henry snake, coast gopher snake, bullsnake, Churchill's bullsnake, Oregon bullsnake, Pacific pine snake, western bullsnake, western gopher snake, Sonoran gopher snake, western pine snake, great basin gopher snake, blow snake, and yellow gopher snake.[5]
Subspecies
As of 2022, there is nearly-unanimous agreement on the recognition of six subspecies, occurring from southern Canada, the continental United States, and Mexico. However, there is not full agreement among taxonomists on the status of populations from Baja California and some offshore islands; the Cape gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer vertebralis) and central Baja Californian gophersnake (P. catenifer bimaris) are recognized, by some sources, as a single species (with no subspecies vertebralis). Some other sources, alternatively, consider it a species with two subspecies: P. v. vertebralis and P. v. bimaris. Other subspecies, including the Coronado Island gophersnake (P. catenifer coronalis) and San Martin Island gophersnake (P. catenifer fulginatus) are of questionable validity.[4][9]
Standardized English name, subspecies, and author[10][11][12][13]
^ abBoulenger GA. 1894. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers.) London. xi + 382 pp. + Plates I.- XX. ("Coluber catenifer", pp. 67-68.)
^Stejneger L, Barbour T. 1917. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press. Cambridge Massachusetts. 125 pp. (Pituophis catenifer, pp. 85-86.)
^ abcdWright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1,105 pp. ISBN0-8014-0463-0. (Pituophis catenifer, pp. 588-609, Figures 171.-175., Map 46.)
^Allf, Bradley C., Sparkman, Amanda M., Pfennig, David W. "Microevolutionary change in mimicry? Potential erosion of rattling behaviour among nonvenomous snakes on islands lacking rattlesnakes" Ethology Ecology & Evolution (2020). DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2020.1837962
^ abcdefStebbins, RobertC. and Samuel M. McGinnis. 2018. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publidhing Co. New York, N.Y. xi, 560 pp. (pages 400-402) ISBN9781328715500
^Conant, Cagle, Goin, Lowe, Neill, Netting, Schmidt, Shaw, Stebbins, and Bogert. 1956. Common names for North American amphibians and reptiles. Copeia 1956: 172–185. (page 183)
^Beat Schätti, Peter Heimes, Frank Tillack, Christoph Kucharzewski, and Jonatan Torres-Pérez Coeto. 2020. Pituophis deppei (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) or a reassessment of Mexican bullsnakes (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae). Vertebrate Zoology 70 (4): 483 – 545 (page 508)
Further reading
Blainville, H.D. 1835. Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie précédée de l'analyse d'un système général d'herpétologie et d'amphibiologie. Nouvelles Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle 4: 233-296. (Coluber catenifer, pp. 290–291 + Plate XXVI., Figures 2, 2A, 2B.)
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