Hypsiglena jani

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Hypsiglena jani

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Hypsiglena
Species:
H. jani
Binomial name
Hypsiglena jani
(Dugès, 1865)
The distribution of Hypsiglena jani (brown), which now includes the two former subspecies Hypsiglena torquata dunklei (orange), and Hypsiglena torquata texana (yellow).
Synonyms

Hypsiglena jani, commonly known as the Texas night snake or the Chihuahuan night snake, is a small species of mildly venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and adjacent northeastern Mexico.

Etymology

The epithet, jani, is in honor of Italian taxonomist Giorgio Jan.[8]

Description

H. jani grows from 10 to 16 inches (25 to 41 centimetres) in total length (including tail), record 20 inches (51 cm).

rear-fanged
, and is considered to be venomous, though it is not dangerous to humans.

Behavior

As the common names imply, H. jani is a primarily

nocturnal
snake.

Diet

The diet of H. jani consists of primarily lizards, but it will also eat smaller snakes and occasionally soft bodied insects.

Habitat

H. jani prefers semi-arid

habitats
with rocky soils.

Reproduction

H. jani is an

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

H. jani ranges from southern Kansas to southern Colorado, and south throughout New Mexico, the western half of Texas to central Mexico.

Subspecies

Three

nominotypical subspecies.[2]

trinomial authority
in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Hypsiglena.

References

  1. ^ Hammerson, G.A. (2019). "Hypsiglena jani". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T90067384A90067431. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Hypsiglena jani ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. ^ 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).
  4. ^ Taylor EH (1938). "On Mexican Snakes of the Genera Trimorphodon and Hypsiglena ". Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 25 (16): 357-383. (Hypsiglena torquata dunklei, new subspecies, pp. 374-375 + Plate XXXVII, figure 1).
  5. ^ Global Names Index. gni.globalnames.org.
  6. ^ 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).
  7. ^ 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". Biol. J. Linnaean Society 92: 483-500. (Hypsiglena jani).
  8. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5
    . (Hypsiglena jani, p. 133).
  9. ISBN 0-395-19977-8
    (paperback). (Hypsiglena torquata texana, p. 217 + Plate 33 + Map 170).

Further reading

  • Dugès A (1865). "Du Liophis janii". Mém. Acad. Sci. Lett. Montpellier 6: 32–33. (Liophis jani, new species). (in French).
  • ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9
    . (Hypsiglena jani, pp. 409–410 + Plate 39).
  • 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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