''Sonora'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of small harmless
colubrid
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from , 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest fossil species of the family date back to the Late Eocene epoch, with earlier origins suspected. Colu ...
snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
s commonly referred to as ground snakes, which are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to North America.
Distribution and habitat
Species of the genus ''Sonora'' range through central and northern Mexico, and the
southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
.
They are sand dwellers.
[ Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). ''Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition''. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. . (Subfamily Colubrinae, Genus ''Sonora'', p. 324).]
Species
''
Nota bene
( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''.
In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...
'': A
binomial authority
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Sonora''.
References
External links
*
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. (''Sonora'', new genus, p. 117).
*
Conant R (1975). ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. (hardcover), (paperback). (Genus ''Sonora'', p. 213).
*
Schmidt KP,
Davis DD (1941). ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus ''Sonora'', p. 197).
*
Smith HM,
Brodie ED Jr (1982). ''Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification''. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. (paperback). (Genus ''Sonora'', p. 166).
Sonora (snake)
Snake genera
Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird
Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard
{{Colubrinae-stub