Range in California: Green
Red: Southwestern Threadsnake
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| Adult, Imperial County |
Adult, Imperial County |
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Adult, San Diego County Desert |
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Juvenile, Imperial County |
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Adult, San Diego County desert. © Gary Nafis. Specimen courtesy of Tim Burkhardt |
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Habitat |
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Habitat, Imperial County |
Habitat, San Diego County |
Habitat, Imperial County |
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Habitat, Imperial County |
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| Short Video |
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Alarge nocturnal Desert Threadsnake wriggles rapidly across rocky desert ground until if finds a hiding place. |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults 7 - 16 inches long (18-41 cm). Hatchlings are around 4 - 5 inches long. |
| Appearance |
A very thin snake with a blunt head and tail. The tail is tipped with a small spine. Eyes are nonfunctional dark spots visible under translucent plates. The scales are shiny and cycloid. Belly plates are not enlarged. The lower jaw is countersunk.
Coloring is brown, purple, or pink. |
| Behavior |
When hunting for food, burrows under roots, rocks, and into ants nests. Often found under rocks, boards, or other surface debris where the soil is slightly moist. Sometimes found crawling on roads at night.
When threatened, this snake often writhes around, forming a tight coil while releasing pungent fluids from the cloaca. These fluids serve to repel defensive attacks by the ants and termites on which it feeds. |
| Diet |
| Eats ants and termites and their larvae and pupae, and occasionally other small insects. |
| Reproduction |
| Mates in the spring, lays eggs July - August. Females tend to the eggs, and may use communal nests. |
| Range |
This subspecies, Rena humilis cahuilae - Desert Threadsnake, is found in southeastern California east of the peninsular ranges into southwest Arizona, south into Sonora and Baja California.
The species Rena humilis - Western Threadsnake, is found from Southern California east through southern Arizona and New Mexico, into southwestern Texas, and south into Mexico and Baja California, Mexico. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits areas where the soil is suitable for burrowing: brushy mountain slopes, deserts, rocky hillsides, washes near streams. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Some herpetologists do not recognize subspecies of Rena humilis. Those who do recognize four subspecies in the United States, and five in Mexico.
In 2009, Adalsteinsson, Branch, Trape, Vitt & Hedges (Molecular Phylogeny, Classification, and Biogeograpy of Snakes of the Family Leptotyphlopidae (Reptilia, Squamata). Zootaxa. 2240: pp. 1 - 50) placed this species in the genus Rena, making it Rena cahuilae. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Renadae ? |
Threadsnakes (Blind Snakes) |
| Genus |
Rena |
Threadsnakes |
| Species |
humilis |
Western Threadsnake |
Subspecies
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cahilae |
Desert Threadsnake |
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Original Description |
Leptotyphlops - Fitzinger, 1843 - Syst. Rept., p. 24
Leptotyphlops humilis - (Baird and Girard, 1853) - Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, p. 143
Leptotyphlops humilis cahuilae - Klauber, 1931 - Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 6, No. 23, p. 339
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Rena = either Latin - Reborn, or Greek - Peace
humilis - Latin - small or ground dwelling -- no specific reason in original description.
cahuilae - of Lake Cahuila -- near the type locality, CA
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Blind Snake
Leptotyphlops humilis - Western Blind Snake (no subspecies recognized)
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
R. h. humilis - Southwestern Threadsnake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Snakes of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This snake is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
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| USDA Forest Service |
None |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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