Tantilla

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Tantilla
Tantilla gracilis.jpg
Tantilla gracilis, flathead snake
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Colubrinae
Genus: Tantilla
Baird & Girard, 1853 [1]
Synonyms
  • HomalocranionDuméril, Bibron, & Duméril, 1854 [2]
  • LioniniaHallowell, 1861 [3]
  • MicrodromusGiinther, 1873 [4]
  • PogonaspisCope, 1894 [5]
Centipede snake (Tantilla armillata), Nicaragua (August 3, 2013) Centipede Snake (Tantilla armillata) (17847993585) (cropped).jpg
Centipede snake (Tantilla armillata), Nicaragua (August 3, 2013)
Smith's black-head snake (Tantilla hobartsmithi), El Paso County, Texas (July, 2021) Tantilla hobartsmithii head.jpg
Smith's black-head snake ( Tantilla hobartsmithi ), El Paso County, Texas (July, 2021)
Neotropical black-headed snake (Tantilla melanocephala), Paraiba, Brazil (October 2, 2018) Tantilla melanocephala from the Atlantic Forest (10.3897-zookeys.787.26946) Figure 4 (cropped).jpg
Neotropical black-headed snake ( Tantilla melanocephala ), Paraíba, Brazil (October 2, 2018)
Plains black headed snake (Tantilla nigriceps) Plains black headed snake (cropped).jpg
Plains black headed snake ( Tantilla nigriceps )
Florida crowned snake (Tantilla relicta), Highlands County, Florida (March 20, 2007) Tantilla relicta.jpg
Florida crowned snake ( Tantilla relicta ), Highlands County, Florida (March 20, 2007)
Red black-headed snake (Tantilla rubra), Chiapas, Mexico (October, 2014) Tantilla rubra.jpg
Red black-headed snake (Tantilla rubra), Chiapas, Mexico (October, 2014)

Tantilla is a large genus of harmless New World snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus includes 66 species, which are commonly known as centipede snakes, black-headed snakes, and flathead snakes. [6] [7]

Contents

Description

Tantilla are small snakes, rarely exceeding 20 cm (8 inches) in total length (including tail). 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

The diet of snakes of the genus Tantilla consists primarily of invertebrates, including scorpions, centipedes, spiders, and various insects.

Species

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

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References

  1. Baird, Spencer F., and Charles Girard. 1853. Catalogue of North American reptiles in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I. Serpents. Smithsonian Misc.ColI. 2 (5): xvi, 172. [page 131]
  2. Dumeril, Andre M. C., G. Bibron, and A. Dumeril. 1854. Erpetologie generale ou histoire naturelle complete des reptiles. Libraire Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris. Vol. 7 (pts. 1-2): 1-1536.
  3. Hallowell, Edward. 1860 [1861]. Report upon the Reptilia of the North Pacific exploring expedition under command of Capt. John Rogers, U. S. N. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science Philadelphia: 480-509.
  4. Günther, Albert. 1872 [1873]. Seventh account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9, no. 49 (1872): 13-37.
  5. Cope, Edward D. 1894. Third addition to a knowledge of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sconces of Philadelphia. 1894: 194-206.
  6. Wilson, Larry David. 1982. Tantilla. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 303:1-4.
  7. Wilson, Larry David, and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2015. A checklist and key to the snakes of the Tantilla clade (Squamata: Colubridae), with comments on taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 418–498.
  8. 1 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; T. bocourti, p. 29).
  9. Hardy LM, Cole CJ (1968). "Morphological Variation in a Population of the Snake, Tantilla gracilis Baird and Girard". University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History. 17 (15): 613–629.

Further reading