''Masticophis schotti'', commonly known as Schott's whip snake, is a species of

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 ...

in the family

Colubridae 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 ...

Geographic range

The species is found in United States in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and in western

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 ...

. It lives up to an altitude of 2300 meters.

Subspecies

*''Masticophis schotti ruthveni'' – Ruthven's whip snake *''Masticophis schotti schotti'' – Schott's whip snake

Etymology

Its species name was given to it in honor of Arthur Schott. The subspecies ''Masticophis schotti ruthveni'' is named in honor of

Alexander Grant Ruthven Alexander Grant Ruthven (April 1, 1882 – January 19, 1971) was a herpetologist, zoologist and the President of the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1951. Biography Alexander Grant Ruthven was born in 1882 in Hull, Iowa. He graduated from ...

References

Original publications

* Baird & Girard, 1853 : ''Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.-Serpents.'' Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
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. * Ortenburger, 1923 : ''A note on the genera Coluber and Masticophis and a description of a new species of Masticophis''. Occasional papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, ,
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. * Smith, 1941 : ''Notes on Mexican snakes of the genus Masticophis''. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, , ,
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. Colubrids Snakes of Central America Snakes of North America Reptiles of the United States Reptiles of Mexico Reptiles described in 1853 Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird {{snake-stub