THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY


Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Striped Whipsnake
Masticophis taeniatus (Hallowell, 1852)
mas-teh-KOE-fis — tay-NEE-awe-tus

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: 2024.02.18.18.22.32)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.39 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Californian Whip Snake (Masticophis taeniatus: Cooper, James G., George Suckley, William Cooper, George Gibbs, Asa Gray, and John L. Le Conte. 1859. The natural history of Washington territory, with much relating to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, and California, between the thirty-sixth and forty-ninth parallels of latitude, being those parts of the final reports on the survey of the Northern Pacific railroad route, containing the climate and physical geography, with full catalogues and descriptions of the plants and animals collected from 1853 to 1857. Bailliere Bros., London, H. Bailliere;, New York, New York. pp.); Pacific Coach-whip Snake (Bascanium taeniatum taeniatum: 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); Texas Coach-whip Snake (Bascanium taeniatus ornatum: 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); Striped Racer (Bascanion taeniatum: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Western Striped Racer (Coluber taeniatus taeniatus: 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.); Ornate Whipsnake (Coluber taeniatus girardi: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Ruthven's Whipsnake (Coluber taeniatus ruthveni: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Striped Whipsnake (Coluber taeniatus taeniatus: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Striped Whip Snake (Masticophis taeniatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Central Texas Whip Snake (Masticophis taeniatus ornatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Ruthven's Whip Snake (Masticophis taeniatus ruthveni: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Striped Whip Snake (Masticophis taeniatus taeniatus: 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:
1852 Hallowell, Edward. Descriptions of new species of reptiles inhabiting North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 6:177-182
1928 Ortenburger, Arthur I. The whip snakes and racers: Genera Masticophis and Coluber. Memiors of the University of Michigan Museum (1):1-247
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1973 Wilson, Larry D. Masticophis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (144):1-2
1982 Parker, William S. Masticophis taeniatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (304):1-4
1994 Camper, Jeffrey D. and Dixon James R. Geographic variation and systematics of the striped whipsnakes (Masticophis taeniatus complex; Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 63(1):1-48
1996 Camper, Jeffrey D. Masticophis taeniatus Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (639):1-6
2004 Nagy, Z. T. , R. Lawson, U. Joger and M. Wink. Molecular systematics of racers, whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using mitochondrial and nuclear markers Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 42:223-233
2008 Collins, Joseph T. and Travis W. Taggart. A proposal to retain Masticophis as the generic name for the Coachwhip and Whipsnakes Journal of Kansas Herpetology (27):12
2017 O'Connell, Kyle A., Jeffrey W. Streicher, Eric N. Smith, and Matthew K. Fujita. Geographical features are the predominant driver of molecular diversification in widely distributed North American whipsnakes. Molecular Ecology 26(20):5729–5751

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 13 June 2025 04:53 CT