A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Key to California Gopher Snake Subspecies

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Feature	Pituophis catenifer affinis	Pituophis catenifer annectens	*Pituophis catenifer catenifer*	*Pituophis catenifer deserticola*	Pituophis catenifer pumilis
Snout				Blunt	Short, flattened
Rostral	Rounded sharply in front. Not raised or only slightly raised	Bluntly rounded	Bluntly rounded	Slightly rounded	Rounded
Nape	Tan or Yellow with small black spots	Often dull orange	Dark brown	Pale in the south. Mottled with dark in the north.	Dark
Body Blotches Count	34 - 63	65 - 106	47- 90 (lower numbers inland)	43 - 71	64 - 82
Body Blotches Appearance	Concave on both sides Brown or rusty Darker on tail	Rounded Black or brown Joined to each other	Square Black or brown Reduced to streaks on the sides	Quadrangular Joined on the neck and on the side of the neck Black on the front and rear of the body, lighter inbetween	Dark, small, and discrete Connected with dorsolateral blotches anteriorly
Dark Tail Spots	9 - 21	16 -33	14 - 31	12 -22	17 - 28
Ground Color	Light brown or tan	Tan or yellow	Tan or yellow	Cream to yellow	Olive
Sides		Gray suffusion on sides	Gray dots on the sides and undertail
Midbody Scale Rows	31 or 33 (29 - 35)	33 (37 - 39)	33 (29 - 35)	31 (27 - 35)	27 - 29
Miscellaneous			Striped Morph Occurs
Source of data: Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.