THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Chihuahuan Hook-nosed Snake
Gyalopion canum Cope, 1860
JAY-loh-pee-on — KAN-um

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: 2024.11.21.09.18.54)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.22 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona New Mexico Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
A small, pale snake with a sharply upturned snout.
Gyalopion — From Greek gyalos (γυάλος), “round” or “curved,” and possibly ops (ὄψ), “face,” or opion, a diminutive ending. The name may mean “little curved-faced one,” referencing the upward-curved rostrum.
canum — From Latin canus, meaning “gray” or “hoary.” Refers to the snake’s pale or grayish coloration.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Dog-nose Snake (Gyalopium canum: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Pug-nosed Snake (Ficimia cana: 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.); Western Hook-nosed Snake (Ficimia cana: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1860 Cope, Edward D. Catalogue of the Colubridae in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes and descriptions of new species. Part 2. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 12:241-266
1913 Nolan, Edward J. An index to the scientific contents of the Journal and Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia [1817-1910] Published in commemoration of the centenary of the academy, March 21, 1912. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1415pp.
1965 Ferguson, Gary W. Verification of a population of Ficimia cana in north-central Texas. Herpetologica 21(2):156-157
1975 Hardy, Laurence M. A systematic revision of the colubrid snake genus Gyalopion. Journal of Herpetology 9(1):107-132
1976 Hardy, Laurence M. Gyalopion, G. canum, G. quadrangularis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (182):1-4
2016 Davis Rabosky, Alison R., Christian L. Cox, Daniel L. Rabosky, Pascal O. Title, Iris A. Holmes, Anat Feldman, and Jimmy A. McGuire. Coral snakes predict the evolution of mimicry across New World snakes Nature Communications 7(11484):1-9

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Wednesday 09 July 2025 13:01 CT