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Southwestern blackhead snake

Tantilla hobartsmithi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Tantilla
Species: T. hobartsmithi
Binomial name
Tantilla hobartsmithi
Taylor, 1936
Synonyms
  • Tantilla hobartsmithi
    Taylor, 1936
  • Tantilla utahensis
    Blanchard, 1938
  • Tantilla hobartsmithi
    Stebbins, 1985

Tantilla hobartsmithi, commonly known as the southwestern blackhead snake, Smith's blackhead snake, or Smith's black-headed snake, is a species of small colubrid snake native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

The specific name or epithet, hobartsmithi, is in honor of American zoologist and herpetologist Hobart M. Smith (1912–2013).

T. hobartsmithi was first described by Edward Harrison Taylor in 1936.

The southwestern blackhead snake is a small snake, growing to a maximum total length (including tail) of 15 in (38 cm), but typically averaging around 8 in (20 cm) in total length.

Dorsally, it is uniformly brown in color, except for the black-colored head, which gives it its common name, and a cream-colored or white collar. On the belly, there is a broad reddish stripe, which runs down the center of the ventral scales.

T. hobartsmithi is rear-fanged, having enlarged rear teeth and a modified saliva, which while harmless to mammals, is believed to be toxic to arthropods, their primary prey.

Blackhead snakes (genus Tantilla) are primarily nocturnal and fossorial, spending most of their time hiding in loose soil, leaf litter, or under ground debris.

Blackhead snakes eat most varieties of soft-bodied insects and centipedes.

The southwestern blackhead snake is found in the southwestern United States, in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, as well as in northern Mexico, in Chihuahua, and Coahuila, and Sonora.


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