Gopher Snake
Pituophis catenifer
Summary 3
Pituophis catenifer is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake endemic to North America. Six subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies, Pituophis catenifer catenifer, described here. This snake is often mistaken for the prairie rattlesnake but can be easily distinguished from a rattlesnake by the lack of black and white banding on its tail, and by the shape of its head which is narrower than a rattlesnake's.
Characteristics 4
The Gopher Snake is a large snake, growing to a lengths of up to 170cm (67in). Light dorsal coloring contrasts with dark saddles and blotches. A dark line extends across the snout and past each eye. Pupils are round and scales are keeled.
Habitat 5
Pacific Gopher Snakes are found in a wide variety of habitats including grassland, woodland, chaparral, backyards, gardens and farmland.
Distribution 5
The Pacific Gopher Snake, is found from Santa Barbara County west of the Sierra Nevada mountains into Oregon.
Common names 6
Common names for this species, or its several subspecies, are: Pacific gopher snake, Henry snake, coast gopher snake, bullsnake, Churchill's bullsnake, Oregon bullsnake, Pacific pine snake, western bullsnake, western gopher snake, Sonoran gopher snake, western pine snake, great basin gopher snake, blow snake, and yellow gopher snake.
Sources and Credits
- (c) J. N. Stuart, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/21786539@N03/2456170925
- (c) Cullen Hanks, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Cullen Hanks
- Adapted by Desmon M Dunn from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituophis_catenifer
- (c) Patrick (Dan) Giltz, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/421212
- (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/31899
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituophis_catenifer
