THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Natricidae  

Narrow-headed Gartersnake
Thamnophis rufipunctatus (Cope, in Yarrow, 1875)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Authority was corrected to relate that the name was published in a work by Yarrow.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.1 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona New Mexico

First instance(s) of published English names:
Red-spotted Chilopoma (Chilopoma rufipunctatum: 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); Spotted Garter Snake (Thamnophis angustirostris: 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.); Narrow-headed Garter Snake (Thamnophis angustirostris: 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:
1875 Yarrow, Henry C. Report upon the collections of batrachians and reptiles made in portions of Nevada, Utah, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona during the years 1871, 1872, 1872, and 1874. Wheeler, G. M. ed., Report upon Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian in Charge of First Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Under the Direction of Brig. Gen. A. A. Humphryes, Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army. Volume 5 (Zoology), Part. 4. US Government, Washington, D. C. 509-584pp.
1908 Ruthven, Alexander G. Variations and genetic relationships of the garter-snakes. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (61):1-201
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
1985 Lawson, Robin. Molecular studies of Thamnophiine snakes. Dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 191pp.
1990 Tanner, Wilmer W. Thamnophis rufipunctatus Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (505):1-2
1994 De Queiroz, Alan and Robin Lawson. Phylogenetic relationships of the garter snakes based on DNA sequence and allozyme variation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 53:209-229
2002 de Queiroz, Alan, Robin Lawson, and Julio A. Lemos-Espinal. Phylogenetic relationships of North American garter snakes (Thamnophis) based on four mitochondrial genes: How much DNA sequence is enough?. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22(2):315-329
2003 Smith, Hobart M. and David Chiszar. The checkered nomenclatural history of the Narrow-headed Garter Snake, Thamnophis rufipunctatus (Cope). Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 38(3):46-48

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 21 April 2025 12:39 CT