THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

California Lyresnake
Trimorphodon lyrophanes (Cope, 1860)

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: 2024.11.22.08.42.37)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.22 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: California

First instance(s) of published English names:
Jew's-harp Snake (Trimorphodon lyrophanes: 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); Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon lyrophanes: 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.); Arizona Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon lyrophanes: 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.); California Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon vandenburghi: 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. Notes and descriptions of new and little known species of American reptiles. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 12:339-345
1928 Klauber, Laurence M. The Trimorphodon (Lyre Snake) of California, with notes on the species of the adjacent areas. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 5(11):183-194
1935 Cowles, Raymond B. and Charles M. Bogert. Observations on the California lyre snake, Trimorphodon vandenburghi Klauber, with notes on the effectiveness of its venom. Copeia 1935(2):80-85
1940 Klauber, Laurence M. The lyre snakes (genus Trimorphodon) of the United States. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 9(19):163-194
1970 Bury, R. Bruce, Franklin Gress, and George C. Gorman. Karyotypic survey of some colubrid snakes from western North America. Herpetologica 26(4):461-466
1971 Gehlbach, Frederick R. Lyre snakes of the Trimorphodon biscutatus complex: A taxonomic rsum. Herpetologica 27:200-211
1984 Scott, Norman J., Jr. and Roy W. McDiarmid. Trimorphodon. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (352):1-2
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

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 19 May 2025 19:39 CT