{{Short description|Genus of snakes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Pituophis catenifer catenifer.jpg | image_caption = Pacific gopher snake<br>''Pituophis catenifer catenifer'' | taxon = Pituophis | authority = Holbrook, 1842 | synonyms = ''Churchilla, Elaphis, Epiglottophis, Pityophis, Rhinechis'' }}
'''''Pituophis''''' is a genus of nonvenomous colubrid snakes, commonly referred to as '''gopher snakes''', '''pine snakes''', and '''bullsnakes''', which are endemic to North America. They are often yellow or cream in color with dark spots and a dark line across their face. Some species can exceed seven feet in length. Gopher snakes can live for 15 years. The gopher snake is commonly misidentified as a rattlesnake because of its similar coloration and its defensive behavior when feeling threatened. A scared gopher snake will flatten its head, hiss loudly, and shake its tail rapidly, doing a very convincing rattlesnake imitation.
==Nomenclature== The genus name ''Pituophis'' is a Latinized modern scientific Greek compound Πιτυόφις : "pine snake"; from {{langx|grc|πίτυς}} (pítus, "pine"), and {{langx|grc|ὄφις}} (óphis, "snake").
==Geographic range== Species and subspecies within the genus ''Pituophis'' are found throughout Mexico, the Southern and Western United States and Western Canada.<ref name="Conant1975">Conant R (1975). ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. {{ISBN|0-395-19977-8}} (paperback). (Genus ''Pituophis'', pp. 198–201 + Plate 27 + figure 57 + Map 147).</ref>
==Description== All species of ''Pituophis'' are large and powerfully built. The head is relatively small in proportion to the body and it is only slightly distinct from the neck. The rostral is enlarged and elongated, imparting a characteristic somewhat pointed shape to the head. All the species occurring in the United States have four prefrontals instead of the usual two.<ref name="Conant1975"/>
==Modified epiglottis== In all snakes of the genus ''Pituophis'', the epiglottis is peculiarly modified so that it is thin, erect and flexible. When a stream of air is forced from the trachea, the epiglottis vibrates, thereby producing the peculiarly loud, hoarse hissing for which bullsnakes, gopher snakes, and pine snakes are well known.<ref>Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus ''Pituophis'', pp. 158–160).</ref>
==Species and subspecies==
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !!Subspecies !!Distribution |- |120px || ''Pituophis catenifer'' {{small|(Blainville, 1835)}} ||gopher snake || *''P. c. affinis'' {{small|(Hallowell, 1852)}} – Sonoran gopher snake *''P. c. annectens'' {{small|Baird & Girard, 1853}} – San Diego gopher snake *''P. c. bimaris'' {{small|Klauber, 1946}} – central Baja California gopher snake *''P. c. catenifer'' {{small|(Blainville, 1835)}} – Pacific gopher snake *''P. c. coronalis'' {{small|Klauber, 1946}} – Coronado Island gopher snake *''P. c. deserticola'' {{small|Stejneger, 1893}} – Great Basin gopher snake *''P. c. fulginatus'' {{small|Klauber, 1946}} – San Martin Island gopher snake *''P. c. pumilis'' {{small|Klauber, 1946}} – Santa Cruz Island gopher snake<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/gopher-snake.htm|title=Santa Cruz Island Gopher Snake - Channel Islands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)}}</ref> *''P. c. sayi'' {{small|(Schlegel, 1837)}} – bullsnake ||North America |- |120px || ''Pituophis deppei'' {{small|(A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)}} ||Mexican bullsnake || *''P. d. deppei'' {{small|(A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)}} – southern Mexican pine snake *''P. d. jani'' {{small|(Cope, 1861)}} – northern Mexican pine snake ||central, Mexico |- ||| ''Pituophis insulanus'' {{small|Klauber, 1946}} || Cedros Island gopher snake ||||Isla de Cedros, Mexico |- |120px || ''Pituophis lineaticollis'' {{small|(Cope, 1861)}}||Middle American gopher snake || *''P. l. gibsoni'' {{small|Stuart, 1954}} *''P. l. lineaticollis'' {{small|(Cope, 1861)}} || From Mexico city, south through Mexico and to Guatemala |- |120px || ''Pituophis melanoleucus'' {{small|(Daudin, 1803)}}||pine snake || *''P. m. lodingi'' {{small|Blanchard, 1924}} – black pine snake *''P. m. melanoleucus'' {{small|(Daudin, 1803)}} – northern pine snake *''P. m. mugitus'' {{small|Barbour, 1921}} – Florida pine snake ||southeastern United States |- |120px || ''Pituophis ruthveni'' {{small|Stull, 1929}} || Louisiana pine snake|||| west-central Louisiana and East Texas |- |120px || ''Pituophis vertebralis'' {{small|(Blainville, 1835)}}|| Cape gopher snake|||| southern Baja California Sur, Mexico. |- |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |author-link1=John Edwards Holbrook |last1=Holbrook |first1=John Edwards |title=North American herpetology : or, A description of the reptiles inhabiting the United States |volume=IV |publisher=J. Dobson |publication-place=Philadelphia |publication-date=1842 |page=7 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/24524#page/14/mode/1up}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Pituophis|<br>Pituophis}} *{{EMBL genus|genus=Pituophis}} *Accounts of four subspecies, ''P. deppei deppei, P. deppei jani, P. lineaticollis lineaticollis'' and ''P. lineaticollis gibsoni'', are given in Duellman WE (1960). [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31570/31570-h/31570-h.htm "A Taxonomic Study of the Middle American Snake, ''Pituophis deppei'' ".] ''University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History'' '''10''': 599–610.
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1992326}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Pituophis Category:Snake genera Category:Snakes of North America Category:Taxa named by John Edwards Holbrook