Long-nosed snake

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Long-nosed snake
Texas long-nosed snake Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Rhinocheilus
Species:	R. lecontei
Binomial name
Rhinocheilus lecontei Baird & Girard, 1853
Synonyms
Rhinocheilus lecontei Baird & Girard, 1853 Rhinochilus [sic] lecontei — Cope, 1866[2] Rhinochilus lecontii [sic] Boulenger, 1894[3] Rhinocheilus lecontei — Stejneger & Barbour, 1917[4]

The long-nosed snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei) is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America. It has two recognized subspecies. The other species in the genus were previously considered subspecies. ^{[citation needed]}

The specific name, lecontei, commemorates American entomologist John Lawrence Le Conte (1825-1883).^[5]

The long-nosed snake is distinguished by a long, slightly upturned snout, which is the origin of its common name. It is tricolor, vaguely resembling a coral snake, with black and red saddling on a yellow or cream-colored background. Cream-colored spots within the black saddles are a distinct characteristic of the long-nosed snake. It differs from all other harmless snakes in the United States by having undivided subcaudal scales.^[6] The total length (including tail) of adults is usually 22–32 in (56–81 cm), but the maximum record total length is 41 in (100 cm).^[7]

R. lecontei is a shy, nocturnal burrowing snake. It spends most of its time buried underground.^{[citation needed]}

The long-nosed snake feeds on lizards, amphibians, and sometimes smaller snakes and infrequently rodents.^{[citation needed]}

R. lecontei is oviparous,^[8] laying clutches of 4-9 eggs in the early summer, which hatch in the late summer or early fall.^{[citation needed]}

The long-nosed snake is not apt to bite, but will release a foul smelling musk and blood^[9] from the cloaca as a defense mechanism if harassed.

The preferred natural habitats of the long-nosed snake are desert, grassland, shrubland, and savanna.^[1]

R. lecontei is found in northern Mexico from San Luis Potosí to Chihuahua, and into the southwestern United States, in California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas,^[8] Oklahoma,^[10] and Texas.^[8]

• Western long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei lecontei Baird & Girard, 1853
• Texas long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei tessellatus Garman, 1883

The long-nosed snake is not often found in the exotic pet trade as it frequently rejects rodent-based diets that are most readily available for captive snakes.^{[citation needed]}

• USGS: Rhinocheilus lecontei
• "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". Retrieved 2008-09-06.
• WhoZoo: Long-nosed Snake
• NatureServe Explorer: w/ 2 RangeMaps: Rhinocheilus lecontei. Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine Click "DISTRIBUTION" for maps.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhinocheilus lecontei.

• Baird SF, Girard C (1853). Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (Rhinocheilus, new genus, p. 120; R. lecontei, new species, pp. 120–121).
• Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. ISBN 0-394-50824-6. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 649-650 + Plates 593, 609).
• Conant, Roger, Bridges, William (1939). What Snake Is That? A Field Guide to the Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains. (With 108 drawings by Edmond Malnate). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company. Frontispiece map + viii + 163 pp. + Plates A-C, 1-32. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, p. 86 + Plate 14, Figure 41).
• Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. ISBN 978-0-544-12997-9. (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 392-393 + Plate 37).
• Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 (paperback). (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 164–165).
• Stebbins RC (2003). A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. The Peterson Field Guide Series ®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. xiii + 533 pp. ISBN 0-395-98272-3 (paperback). (Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 370–371 + Plate 44 + Map 155).
• Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in 2 volumes) (Genus Rhinocheilus, p. 630-633 + Figure 19 on p. 69). (species Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 633–644, Figures 183-187, Map 48).
• Zim HS, Smith HM (1956). Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar American Species: A Golden Nature Guide. Revised Edition. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. ("LONG-NOSED SNAKE", Rhinocheilus lecontei, pp. 101, 156).