Tantilla

Tantilla
Tantilla gracilis, flathead snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Suborder:Serpentes
Family:Colubridae
Subfamily:Colubrinae
Genus:Tantilla
Baird & Girard, 1853
Synonyms

Coluber, Homalocranion, Homalacranium, Leptocalamus, Lioninia, Pogonaspis[1]

Tantilla is a large genus of harmless New World colubrid snakes which includes 64 species commonly known as centipede snakes, blackhead snakes, and flathead snakes.

Description

Tantilla are small snakes, rarely exceeding 20 cm (8 inches) in total length. They are generally varying shades of brown, red or black in color. Some species have a brown body with a black head.

Behavior

Tantilla are nocturnal, secretive snakes. They spend most of their time buried in the moist leaf litter of semi-forested regions or under rocks and debris.

Diet

Their diet consists primarily of invertebrates, including scorpions, centipedes, spiders, and various insects.

Species

  • Tantilla albiceps Barbour, 1925 - Barbour's centipede snake - Panama
  • Tantilla alticola (Boulenger, 1903) - Boulenger's centipede snake - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
  • Tantilla andinista Wilson & Mena, 1980 - Andes centipede snake - Ecuador
  • Tantilla armillata Cope, 1876 - Costa Rica, El Salvador
  • Tantilla atriceps (Günther, 1895) - Mexican blackhead snake - USA (Arizona, Texas, New Mexico), northern Mexico
  • Tantilla bairdi Stuart, 1941 - Baird's blackhead snake[2] - Guatemala
  • Tantilla berguidoi Batista, Mebert, Lotzkat, & Wilson, 2016 - Chucantí centipede snake - Panama
  • Tantilla bocourti (Günther, 1895) - Bocourt's blackhead snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla boipiranga Sawaya & Sazima, 2003 - Brazil
  • Tantilla brevicauda Mertens, 1952 - Mertens' centipede snake - El Salvador
  • Tantilla briggsi Savitzky & H.M. Smith, 1971 - Briggs' centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla calamarina Cope, 1876 - Pacific Coast centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla capistrata Cope, 1876 - Capistrata centipede snake - Peru
  • Tantilla cascadae Wilson & Meyer, 1981 - Michoacán centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla ceboruca Canseco-Márquez et al., 2007 - Mexico
  • Tantilla coronadoi Hartweg, 1944 - Guerreran centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla coronata Baird & Girard, 1853 - southeastern crowned snake - southeastern United States
  • Tantilla cucullata Minton, 1956 - Big Bend blackhead snake - USA (Texas), Mexico
  • Tantilla cuniculator H.M. Smith, 1939 - Peten centipede snake - south Mexico, Belize, Guatemala
  • Tantilla deppei (Bocourt) - Deppe's centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla excelsa McCranie & Smith, 2017 - Honduras
  • Tantilla flavilineata H.M. Smith & Burger, 1950 - yellow-lined centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla gottei McCranie & Smith, 2017 - Honduras
  • Tantilla gracilis Baird & Girard, 1853 - flathead snake - southwestern United States, northern Mexico[3]
  • Tantilla hendersoni Stafford, 2004 - Peten centipede snake - Belize
  • Tantilla hobartsmithi Taylor, 1936 - southwestern blackhead snake - southwestern United States, northern Mexico
  • Tantilla impensa Campbell, 1998 - Guatemala
  • Tantilla insulamontana Wilson & Mena, 1980 - mountain centipede snake - Ecuador
  • Tantilla jani (Günther, 1895) - Jan's centipede snake - Mexico, Guatemala
  • Tantilla johnsoni Wilson, Vaughn & Dixon, 1999 - Mexico
  • Tantilla lempira Wilson & Mena, 1980 - Mena's centipede snake - Honduras
  • Tantilla melanocephala (Linnaeus, 1758) - blackhead snake - Mexico, Central and South America.
  • Tantilla miyatai Wilson & Knight, 1987 - Ecuador
  • Tantilla moesta (Günther, 1863) - blackbelly centipede snake - Mexico, Guatemala, Belize
  • Tantilla nigra (Boulenger, 1914) - black centipede snake - Colombia
  • Tantilla nigriceps Kennicott, 1860 - plains blackhead snake - southwestern United States, northern Mexico
  • Tantilla oaxacae Wilson & Meyer, 1971 - Oaxacan centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla olympia Townsend, Wilson, Medina-Flores, & Herrera, 2013 - Honduras
  • Tantilla oolitica Telford, 1966 - rim rock crowned snake - USA (Florida)
  • Tantilla petersi Wilson, 1979 - Peters' blackhead snake
  • Tantilla planiceps (Blainville, 1835) - western blackhead snake - United States (California), northern Mexico
  • Tantilla psittaca McCranie, 2011 - Honduras
  • Tantilla relicta Telford, 1966 - Florida crowned snake - USA (Florida)
  • Tantilla reticulata (Cope, 1860) - reticulate centipede snake - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
  • Tantilla robusta Canseco-Márquez, Mendelson & Gutiérrez-Mayén, 2002 - Mexico
  • Tantilla rubra Cope, 1876 - Big Bend blackhead snake - USA (Texas), Mexico
  • Tantilla ruficeps Cope, 1894 - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama
  • Tantilla schistosa (Bocourt, 1883) - red earth centipede snake - Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
  • Tantilla semicincta (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) - ringed centipede snake - Panama, Colombia, Venezuela
  • Tantilla sertula Wilson & Campbell, 2000 - Mexico
  • Tantilla shawi Taylor, 1949 - Potosí centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla slavensi Pérez-Higareda, H.M. Smith & R.B. Smith, 1985 - Slavens' centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla stenigrammi McCranie & Smith, 2017 - Honduras
  • Tantilla striata Dunn, 1928 - striped centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla supracincta (W. Peters, 1863) - banded centipede snake - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador
  • Tantilla taeniata Bocourt, 1883 - Central American centipede snake - Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua
  • Tantilla tayrae Wilson, 1983 - Volcán Tacaná centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla tecta Campell & E.N. Smith, 1997 - Guatemala
  • Tantilla tjiasmantoi (Koch & Venegas, 2016) - Tjiasmanto's centipede snake - Peru
  • Tantilla trilineata (W. Peters, 1880) - Brazilian three-lined centipede snake - Brazil
  • Tantilla triseriata H.M. Smith & P.W. Smith, 1951 - Mexican three-lined centipede snake - Mexico
  • Tantilla tritaeniata H.M. Smith & Williams, 1966 - three-banded centipede snake - Honduras
  • Tantilla vermiformis (Hallowell, 1861) - Hallowell's centipede snake - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvator
  • Tantilla vulcani Campbell, 1998 - Guatemala
  • Tantilla wilcoxi Stejneger, 1902 - Chihuahuan blackhead snake - USA (Arizona), northern Mexico
  • Tantilla yaquia H.M. Smith, 1942 - Yaqui blackhead snake - USA (Arizona, New Mexico), Mexico

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Tantilla.

References

  1. ↑ "Tantilla ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Tantilla bairdi, p. 14).
  3. ↑ Hardy LM, Cole CJ (1968). "Morphological Variation in a Population of the Snake, Tantilla gracilis Baird and Girard". Univ. Kansas Pub., Mus. Nat. Hist. 17 (15): 613-629.

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. (Tantilla, new genus, p. 104).
  • Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin. xiii + 533 pp. ISBN 0-395-98272-3 (paperback). (Genus Tantilla, pp. 397–399).
  • Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (Genus Tantilla, p. 722; key species and subspecies of Tantilla, pp. 723–725).
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