THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Dipsadidae  

Chihuahuan Nightsnake
Hypsiglena jani (Dugès, 1865)
HIP-sih-glee-nah — YAH-nee

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: 2023.04.08.23.01.40)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.16 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona Colorado Kansas New Mexico Oklahoma Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for a noted herpetologist.
Hypsiglena — From Greek: ὕψιλος (hypsilos) = “high” or “lofty”; γλένος (glenos) = “pupil (of the eye)” or “socket”. Hypsiglena roughly means “high pupil” or “lofty pupil,” likely referring to the distinctive vertical pupils of this genus’s snakes.
jani — This is a patronym honoring the German naturalist (Giuseppe Antonio) Giorgio Jan (1791-1866). Renowned for founding and directing the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano. He described over 85 new snake species and co-authored the monumental Iconographie Générale des Ophidiens, perfectly illustrating his deep impact on herpetology. The epithet jani is the Latinized genitive form—meaning “of Jan”.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Texas Night Snake (Hypsiglena torquata texana: 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:
1865 Dugès, Alfredo. Du Liophis janii. Academie des Sciences et Lettres de Montpellier. Memoires de la Section des Sciences. 6:32–33
1937 Hibbard, Claude W. Hypsiglena ochrorhynchus in Kansas and additional notes on Leptotyphlops dulcis. Copeia 1937(1):74
1940 Kuntz, R. E. Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha in Oklahoma. Copeia 1940(2):136
1950 Dundee, Harold A. Additional records of Hypsiglena from Oklahoma with notes on the behavior and eggs. Herpetologica 6(2):28-30
1954 Tanner, Wilmer W. Additional note on the genus Hypsiglena with a description of a new subspecies. Herpetologica 10:54-56
2002 Rundquist, Eric M. Natural history of the Night Snake, Hypsiglena torquata, in Kansas. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (4):16-20
2016 Myers, Edward A., Michael J. Hickerson, and Frank T. Burbrink. Asynchronous diversification of snakes in the North American warm deserts. Journal of Biogeography 44(2):1-14
2016 Lee, Justin L., Adrian Thompson and Daniel G. Mulcahy. Relationships between numbers of vertebrae, scale counts, and body size, with implications for taxonomy in Nightsnakes (Genus: Hypsiglena). Journal of Herpetology 50(4):616-620
2020 Myers, Eward A. and Daniel G. Mulcahy. Six additional mitochondrial genomes for North American nightsnakes (Dipsadidae: Hypsiglena) and a novel gene feature for advanced snakes. Mitochondrial DNA Part B Resources 5(3):3056-3058

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