Western Shovelnose Snake Chionactis occipitalis  (Hallowell, 1854)
An adult specimen from Riverside County, California Image © Suzanne L. Collins, 2005
Taxonomic Comments:
Mahrdt, Beaman, Rosen, and Holm (2001 Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 731.1-731.12) recommended that Chionactis saxatilis Funk 1967, be placed in the synonymy of Chionactis occipitalis. Collins & Taggart (2002 Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition) submitted for consideration the proposal by Mahrdt, Beaman, Rosen, & Holm (2001 op. cit.) to a snake systematist group composed of Frank T. Burbrink, Jeff Camper, Harry W. Greene, L. Lee Grismer, Robin Lawson, James R. McCranie, Andrew H. Price, Javier Rodriguez-Robles, and Samuel S. Sweet, and they agreed. Wood et al. (2008. Conservation Genetics 9: 1489-1507), using molecular data, demonstrated that this taxon may consist of two species, Chionactis occipitalis and C. annulata. Standard common names would become Mojave Shovelnose Snake and Colorado Desert Shovelnose Snake, respectively.