Baja California Coachwhip Masticophis fuliginosus  (Cope, 1895)

Taxonomic Comments:

Grismer (2002, Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. University of California Press, Berkeley), based on its sympatric occurrence with M. flagellum, recognized the race Masticophis flagellum fuliginosus as a distinct species, M. fuliginosus. Standard common name remains Baja California Coachwhip. Collins & Taggart (2009 Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Sixth Edition) submitted for consideration the proposal by Grismer (2002 op. cit.) to a snake systematist group composed of Frank T. Burbrink, Jeff Camper, Michael Douglas, Harry W. Greene, Toby Hibbitts, Robin Lawson, James R. McCranie, Brice P. Noonan, Christopher L. Parkinson, Theodora Pinou, R. Alexander Pyron, Javier A. Rodriguez-Robles, and Van Wallach, and a majority of those responding agreed.