Mountain Patch-nosed Snake
Salvadora grahamiae
Baird and Girard, 1853
sal-VOH-doh-rah — GRAY-uh-mee-eye
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
The elevation of S. g. lineata leaves Salvadora grahamiae without subspecies. The standardized English name of the former subspecies S. g. grahamiae “Mountain Patch-nosed Snake” replaces the former species name for S. grahamiae “Eastern Patch-nosed Snake”
(Boundy, Jeff, Frank T. Burbrink, and Sara Ruane. 2025. Squamata (excluding lizards) – Snakes. Pages 38-54 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Errata/Changes: Page 50: In the second sentence, "S. g. grahamiae" should be italicized. — (4/10/2025)
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.02.19.09.38.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.15 MB
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a 19th-century American explorer and collector.
Salvadora — Named in honor of José Salvado, a Spanish naturalist—or possibly derived from salvator, Latin for “savior.” The original author (Baird & Girard, 1853) did not specify the origin clearly, but the name was likely a personal tribute.
grahamiae — A patronym honoring James Duncan Graham (1799–1865), a U.S. Army topographical engineer who collected natural history specimens across the American Midwest and Southwest.
First instance(s) of published English names:
Graham's Snake (Salvadora grahamii: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Graham's Salvadora (Salvadora grahamii: Cooper, James G. 1869. The naturalist in California. The American Naturalist 3(9):470-481); Patched-nosed Snake (Salvadora grahamiae: 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); Graham's Leaf-nosed Snake (Salvadora grahami: Brown, Arthur, E. 1902. Report of the Board of Directors. Pages 5-22 in Thirtieth Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia. Allen, Lane, and Scott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. pp.); Patch-nose Snake (Salvadora grahamiae: Stejneger, Leonhard H. and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); Patch-nose Snake (Salvadora grahamiae: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Mountain Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora grahamiae: 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.); Rio Grande Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora lineata: 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.); Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora lineata: 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.); Texas Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora lineata: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
The Reptile Database
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1853
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Baird, Spencer F. and Charles Girard. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1. Serpents. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 2(5):xvi + 172
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1972
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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
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