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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  
Chihuahuan Black-headed Snake
Tantilla wilcoxi Stejneger, 1902
tan-TILL-ah — WIL-kohs-eye
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Date of publication corrected by Crombie (1994, Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service (101): 1–40). (Boundy, Jeff, Frank T. Burbrink, and Sara Ruane. 2025. Squamata (excluding lizards) – Snakes. Pages 38-54 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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Occurrences:; 214 Total; 156 Museum; 58 Other

The locality database contains 8,094,832 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a southwestern naturalist.
Tantilla — A diminutive form of Tantillus, itself likely derived from Latin tantus, meaning “so small” or “so little.” The name refers to the small size of these snakes.
wilcoxi — A patronym honoring Timothy E. Wilcox (1840-1932), a US Army surgeon, naturalist, and collector active in the American Southwest in the early 20th century, associated with the collection of the type specimen.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Arizona Tantilla (Tantilla wilcoxi: 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.); Huachuca Black-headed Snake (Tantilla wilcoxi: 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.);


Selected References:
1903 Stejneger, Leonhard H. The reptiles of the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 25(1282):149-158
1938 Blanchard, Frank N. Snakes of the genus Tantilla in the United States. Field Museum of Natural History. Zoological Series 20(28):369-376
1982 Wilson, Larry David. Tantilla. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (307):1-4
1983 Liner, Ernest A. Tantilla wilcoxi.. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (345):1-2
1994 Crombie, Ronald I. Herpetological publications of the National Museum of Natural History (USNM). 1853-1994. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service (101):40
2014 Wilson, Larry D. and Vincente Mata-Silva. Snakes of the genus Tantilla (Squamata: Colubridae) in Mexico: Taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1(1):5-95

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