Fox's mountain meadow snake (''Thamnophis foxi'', meaning "Fox's hidden snake"; ''culebra-de vega de Fox'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

viviparous Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the m ...

colubrid Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

, described by

Douglas A. Rossman Douglas Athon "Dag" Rossman (July 4, 1936 – July 23, 2015) was a U.S. herpetologist specializing in garter snakes. He studied at the University of Florida, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1961.

and Richard M. Blaney in 1968, which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''foxi'', is in honor of American herpetologist Wade Fox Jr. (1920–1964).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Adelophis foxi'', p. 93).

Pictures

File:Adelophis_foxi.jpg File:Adelophis_foxi_head.jpg

Conservation status

Specimens LSU40793 and LSU40846 were the last recorded specimens of ''A. foxi'', consisting of a male and female collected on 18 and 19 July 1981 in southwestern

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

, Mexico, most likely around west of El Salto. While no detailed location information is included in the specimen record, it is noted that the same collector visited this location almost yearly in the late 1960s. Threats to the survival of this snake species include ongoing

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

caused by logging. The area contains pine and pine-oak forests of ''

Pinus durangensis ''Pinus durangensis'', the Durango pine, is a pine tree species endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range of north-western Mexico. This species is related to ''Pinus ponderosa'' (Ponderosa pine), and included in the same subsection ...

'' that have been heavily logged and are now severely disturbed. Parts of the area are being reforested for forestry purposes, but it is not known whether reforested ''

'' stands are suitable for this snake species.

Etymology

Pictures

Conservation status

References

Further reading