THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Western Groundsnake
Sonora semiannulata Baird and Girard, 1853
so-NORE-uh — sem-ee-an-yoo-LAW-taw

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.02.19.20.04.05)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.28 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona California Idaho Nevada New Mexico Oregon Texas Utah

First instance(s) of published English names:
Miter Snake (Contia episcopa episcopa: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Banded Miter Snake (Contia episcopa isozona: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Collared Miter Snake (Contia episcopa torquata: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Sonora Ring Snake (Sonora semiannulata: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Striped Ground Snake (Sonora episcopa: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Miter Snake (Sonora episcopa: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Bicolor Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Vermilion-lined Ground Snake (Sonora miniata linearis: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Vermilion Ground Snake (Sonora miniata minata: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Blanchard's Western Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata blanchardi: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Gloyd's Western Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata gloydi: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Arizona Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata semiannulata: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Trans-pecos Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata blanchardi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Grand Canyon Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata gloydi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Great Basin Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata isozona: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Vermilion-lined Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata linearis: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Santa Rita Ground Snake (Sonora semiannulata semiannulata: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1853 Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1. Serpents. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 2(5):xvi + 172
1923 Ortenburger, Arthur I. The status of Sonora semiannulata and Sonora episcopa. Copeia 1923(120):79-81
1938 Stickel, William H. The snakes of the genus Sonora in the United States and Lower California. Copeia 1938(4):182-190
1943 Stickel, William H. The Mexican snakes of the genera Sonora and Chionactis with notes on the status of other colubrid genera. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 56:109-128
1979 Frost, Darrel R. and Thomas R. Van Devender. The relationship of the groundsnakes Sonora semiannulata and S. episcopa (Serpentes: Colubridae). Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Louisiana State University (52):1-9
1983 Frost, Darrel R. Sonora semiannulata Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (333):333.1-333.4
2012 Cox, Christian L. Phylogenetic systematics, populations genetics, and the evolution of color pattern polymorphism and coral snake mimicry in the snake genus Sonora. Dissertation. University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas. 159pp.
2013 Cox, Christian L. and Alison R. Davis Rabosky. Spatial and temporal drivers of phenotypic diversity in polymorphic snakes. The American Naturalist 182(2):E40-E57
2014 Cox, Christian L. and Paul T. Chippindale. Patterns of genetic diversity in the polymorphic ground snake (Sonora semiannulata). Genetica 142:361-370
2016 Davis Rabosky, Alison R., Christian L. Cox, Daniel L. Rabosky, Pascal O. Title, Iris A. Holmes, Anat Feldman, and Jimmy A. McGuire. Coral snakes predict the evolution of mimicry across New World snakes Nature Communications 7(11484):1-9
2017 Bezy, Robert L., Philip C. Rosen, Thomas R. Van Devender, and Erik F. Enderson. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1):138-167

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Sunday 15 June 2025 03:09 CT