You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Sonora aemula

Sonora aemula (COPE, 1879)

IUCN Red List - Sonora aemula - Near Threatened, NT
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Sonora aemula?

Add your own observation of
Sonora aemula »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Filetail Ground Snake
S: Culebra de Tierra Cola Plana 
SynonymProcinura aemula COPE 1879: 262
Contia aemula — GARMAN 1884: 92
Scolecophis aemulus – AMARAL 1929
Sonora aemula – BOGERT & OLIVER 1945
Procinura aemula — SMITH & TAYLOR 1945
Sonora aemula – ZWEIFEL & NORRIS 1955
Procinura aemula — SMITH & SMITH 1976
Sonora aemula — LINER 1994
Procinura aemula – LEMOS-ESPINAL et al. 2004
Procinura aemula — LINER 2007
Procinura aemula — ENDERSON et al. 2009
Sonora aemula — COX et al. 2012
Sonora aemula — WALLACH et al. 2014: 680
Sonora (Procinura) aemula — COX et al. 2018: 980 
DistributionNW Mexico (S Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa)

Type locality: Batopilas, Southern Chihuahua, Mexico.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 11641 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This species can be distinguished from both S. michoacanensis and S. mutabilis by the presence of distinctly raised tubercular scales or caudal spines (Fig. 13) creating a ‘file-like’ tail (Bogert & Oliver, 1945, COX et al. 2012). 
CommentPhylogenetics: Procinura aemula COPE 1879 was recently placed back in the monotypic genus Procinura on the basis of its unusual caudal morphology, a ‘file-like’ tail (Lemos-Espinal et al., 2004a, 2004b, 2004c). 
EtymologyFrom the Latin word “aemulus” in its nominative singular feminine form, meaning to imitate or imitator. Likely in reference to their coloration which is similar to that of coral snakes. 
References
  • Cope, E.D. 1879. Eleventh contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 18: 261-277. - get paper here
  • Cox, Christian L.; Alison R. Davis Rabosky, Iris A. Holmes, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, Corey E. Roelke, Eric N. Smith, Oscar Flores-Villela, Jimmy A. McGuire & Jonathan A. Campbell 2018. Synopsis and taxonomic revision of three genera in the snake tribe Sonorini. Journal of Natural History 52: 945-988 - get paper here
  • Cox, Christian L.; Alison R. Davis Rabosky, Jacobo Reyes-Velasco, Paulino Ponce-Campos, Eric N. Smith, Oscar Flores-Villela & Jonathan A. Campbell 2012. Molecular systematics of the genus Sonora (Squamata: Colubridae) in central and western Mexico. Systematics and Biodiversity 10: 93-108 - get paper here
  • Enderson, Erik F.; Adrian Quijada-Mascareñas; Dale S. Turner; Philip C. Rosen & Robert L. Bezy 2009. The herpetofauna of Sonora, Mexico, with comparisons to adjoining states. Check List 5 (3): 632–672 - get paper here
  • Enderson, Erik F.; Thomas R. Van Devender, Robert L. Bezy 2014. Amphibians and reptiles of Yécora, Sonora and the Madrean Tropical Zone of the Sierra Madre Occidental in northwestern Mexico. Check List 10 (4): 913-926 - get paper here
  • Garman, Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Hardy, L.M., & McDiarmid, R.W. 1969. The amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 18 (3): 39-252. - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR 2020. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sinaloa, Mexico with a conservation status summary and comparisons with neighboring states. ZooKeys 931: 85-114 - get paper here
  • Lemos-Espinal JA, Smith GR, Rorabaugh JC 2019. A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sonora, Mexico, with updated species lists. ZooKeys 829: 131-160 - get paper here
  • LEMOS-ESPINAL, J.A., CHISZAR, D. & SMITH, H.M. 2004. Variation in Procinura aemula, the File-tailed Groundsnake of Mexico. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 40, 61–69 - get paper here
  • LEMOS-ESPINAL, J.A., SMITH, H.M. & CHISZAR, D. 2004. Introduccíon a los anfidios y reptiles del estado de Chihuahua, Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Me ́xico y Conabio, D.F., México
  • LEMOS-ESPINAL; J.A., CHISZAR, D., INGRASCI, M.J. & SMITH, H.M. 2004. Year 2002 turtles and snakes from Chihuahua, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 39, 82–87 - get paper here
  • Liner, Ernest A. 2007. A CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MEXICO. Louisiana State University Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science 80: 1-60 - get paper here
  • Scott, J., Dye, D. et al. 2012. FHF snapshot. HerpNation 2.5 (8): 18-22 - get paper here
  • Turner, D. S., Van Devender, T. R., Hale, S. F., Zach, R., Martínez, R., Van Devender, R. W., ... & Paholski, C. 2022. Amphibians and reptiles of Rancho Las Playitas area, Sonora, Mexico. Sonoran Herpetologist, 35, 50-59 - get paper here
  • Van Devender, Thomas R. and Peter Holm. 2014. Geographic Distribution: Sonora aemula (file-tailed ground snake). Herpetological Review 45 (1): 96 - get paper here
  • Van Devender, Thomas R., Roberto Hernández-Jimenez and Hugo Silva-Kurumiya. 2014. Geographic Distribution: Sonora aemula (file-tailed ground snake). Herpetological Review 45 (1): 96-97 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Webb, R.G. 1984. Herpetogeography in the Mazatlán-Durango Region of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. Vetrebrate Ecology and Systematics - A ribute to Henry S. Fitch; Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, pp. 217-241
  • Zweifel,R.G. and Norris,K.S. 1955. Contributions to the herpetology of Sonora, Mexico:Descriptions of new subspecies of snakes (Micruroides euryxanthus and Lampropeltis getulus) and miscellaneous collecting notes. American Midland Naturalist 54: 230-249 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Sonora&species=aemula

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator