Range in California: Red
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| Dark phase adult, San Diego County, © Todd Battey. Specimen courtesy of Bob Applegate. |
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| Dark phase sub-adult, San Diego County, © Todd Battey |
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Dark phase juvenile, San Diego County,
© Todd Battey. Specimen courtesy of Bob Applegate. |
Dark phase adult, San Diego County, © 2004 Dick Bartlett |
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| Adult, 3030 ft. San Diego County © William Flaxington |
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Light phase Adult, Baja California Sur |
| Habitat |
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Habitat, coastal southern
San Diego County
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Habitat, San Diego County |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults are normally 24-52 inches long (62-132 cm.) |
| Appearance |
| A slender fast-moving snake with smooth scales, a large head and eyes, and a thin neck. Large scales above eyes. 17 scale rows at mid body. Coloration is variable, with a light, silvery phase, and a dark phase. Only the dark phase has been found in California. The dark phase is a dark grayish-brown overall, with narrow, light lines on the sides. There is no contrasting dark head or dark neck bars. The braided appearance of scales on the tail (like a whip) gives this snake its common name. |
| Behavior |
| Active in the daytime. Hunts crawling with the head held high above the ground, occasionally moving it from side to side. The prey is overcome and crushed with the jaws or beneath loops of the body and eaten without constriction. Often strikes agressively when threatened or handled. Good climbers, able to climb bushes and trees. Seen moving quickly even on hot sunny days, but often seen basking on roads in early morning or resting underneath boards or other surface objects. Frequently run over by vehicles and found dead on the road, partly due to the tendency of this snake to stop and eat road-killed small animals. |
| Diet |
| Eats small mammals including bats, nestling and adult birds, bird eggs, lizards, snakes, amphibians, and carrion. Hatchlings and juveniles will eat large invertebrates. |
| Reproduction |
| Lays eggs in early summer which hatch in early Fall. |
| Range |
| Occurs in California only in a small area of southern San Diego County near the Baja California border. Occurs throughout Baja California. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits open areas of grassland and coastal sage scrub. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
North American snakes formerly placed in the genus Masticophis have been changed to the genus Coluber based on a 2004 paper * by Nagy et al. Utiger et al. (2005, Russian Journal of Herpetology 12:39-60) supported Nagy et al. and synonymized Masticophis with Coluber. This has not been universally accepted. The most recent SSAR list has hinted that the genus Masticophis might be re-instated: "Burbrink (pers. comm.) has data to reject Nagy et al.’s hypothesis but we await publication of these data before reconsidering the status of Masticophis."
Grismer recognized C. fuliginosus as a distinct species in 2002. The snake is still recognized as a subspecies of Coluber flagellum, C. f. fuliginosus, by some authorities who then recognize six subspecies of Coluber flagellum, including C. f. fuliginosus, and two other California subspecies - the San Joaquin Coachwhip - C. f. ruddocki, and the Red Racer - C. f. piceus. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Coluber |
North American Racers, Coachwhips and Whipsnakes |
Species
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fuliginosus |
Baja California Coachwhip |
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Original Description |
Masticophis flagellum fuliginosus - (Cope, 1895) - Amer. Nat., Vol. 29, p. 679
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Coluber - Latin - coluber snake or serpent
fuliginosus - Latin - fuligo - soot or black and -osus - fullness of (probably referring to the dark morph of this species)
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Masticophis flagellum fuliginosus
Masticophis fuliginosus - Baja California Coachwhip
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
C. f. piceus - Red Racer
C. f. ruddocki - San Joaquin Coachwhip
S. h. hexalepis - Desert Patch-nosed Snake
S. h. mojavensis - Mojave Patch-nosed Snake
S. h. virgultea - Coast Patch-nosed Snake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
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.
Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002.
McPeak, Ron H. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. Sea Challengers, 2000.
* Z. T. Nagy, Robin Lawson, U. Joger and M. Wink. Molecular systematics of Racers, Whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using Mitochondrial and Nuclear Markers. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research (Volume 42 pages 223–233). 2004
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
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 Game |
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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