Sonoran shovelnose snake
Sonora palarostris, commonly known as the Sonoran shovelnose snake, is a species of small nonvenomous colubrid which is a native of the Sonoran Desert in North America.
The specific name, palarostris, is from Latin: pāla (shovel) and rōstrum (beak or snout).
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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starts withS. palarostris is cross-banded with black, yellow (or whitish), and red bands. Consequently, it resembles the Sonoran coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthus ). The mnemonic "red on yellow kill a fellow, red on black, friend of Jack" doesn't work with this snake. However, unlike the coral snake, which has a black snout, Sonora palarostris has a yellow snout and is not venomous. Also on a coral snake, the bands go all the way around, but S. palarostris has a solid yellow belly.
The smooth dorsal scales are arranged in 15 rows at midbody; ventrals, 141–181; subcaudals, 34–64, divided.
Maximum total length (including tail) of adults is 43 cm (17 in).
S. palarostris is found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. In the United States it is found only in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument of western Pima County, Arizona. The subspecies occurring there is called the Organ Pipe shovelnose snake (C. p. organica ). In Mexico it is found only in the state of Sonora.
S. palarostris is active in the evening and at night, mostly near washes.
