Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 4.27
Spotted night snake (
Hypsiglena torquata ochrorhyncha
); Culebra nocturna
manchada.
A denizen of rocky foothill terrain, this dipsadid is found in the southern Baja
Peninsula. Average adult specimens of
Hypsiglena
spp. may attain a length of approximately
0.35 m, and prey includes lizards, squamate eggs, frogs as well as occasionally snakes,
amphibaenians (worm lizards), and insects. As with many non-front-fanged colubroids,
the taxonomic status of
H. torquata
is uncertain, and several subclades are recognized with
H. t. ochrorhyncha
included in the coast clade. A recent phylogeographic and molecular
systematics investigation (using mitochondrial DNA) recognized six species that were
previously
H. torquata
, a taxon that consisted of approximately 17 subspecies (Mulcahy,
2008). Vest (1988) reported a murine s.c. LD
50
of 26.0 mg/kg for
H. t. texana
Duvernoy's
secretion. These snakes are reluctant to bite, and only one scantily documented case of a
bite by
H. t. texana
reported only mild, transient local pain. The semi-fossorial nature, low
experimental toxicity, and reluctance to bite, all are indicative of the medical insignificance of
this species (see
Table 4.1
).
Photo copyright to Robert and Ann Simpson.
