THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  

Baja California Ratsnake
Bogertophis rosaliae (Mocquard, 1899)
BOH-ger-TOH-fiss — roh-SAH-lee-eye

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: 2023.04.08.12.02.39)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.13 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: California

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named after the Baja California locality of Santa Rosalía.
Bogertophis — A patronym honoring Charles Mitchill Bogert (1908–1992), a distinguished American herpetologist, combined with ophis (ὄφις), Greek for “snake.” The name means “Bogert’s snake.”
rosaliae — A toponym referring to Santa Rosalía, a coastal town in Baja California Sur, Mexico, near the species’ type locality. The Latinized genitive form indicates “of Rosalía.”

First instance(s) of published English names:
Yellow Snake (Elaphe rosaliae: 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.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1899 Mocquard, François. Contribution a la fauna herpetologique de la Basse Californie. Nouvelles archives du Muséum d'histoire naturelle. 4th series. 1(2nd fasc):297–343
1983 Ottley, John R. and E. E. Jacobsen. Pattern and coloration of juvenile Elaphe rosalie with notes on natural history. Journal of Herpetology 17(2):189-191
1988 Dowling, Herndon G. and R. M. Price. A proposed new genus for Elaphe subocularis and Elaphe rosaliae. The Snake 20:52-63
1990 Price, Robert M. Bogertophis Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (497):1-2
1990 Price, Robert M. Bogertophis rosaliae Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (498):1-3
2007 Burbrink, Frank T. and Robin Lawson. How and when did Old World ratsnakes disperse into the New World? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43:173-189

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:56 CT