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NarrativeWikipediaarticle
Traits & measurements1 literature sources5 traits
Occurrence & distributionGBIF223 records
01Narrative
The Cape gopher snake or Baja gopher snake (Pituophis vertebralis) is a species of nonvenomous colubrid endemic to extreme southern Baja California Sur, Mexico. They have become increasingly popular companions for people interested in the exotic pet trade, due to their extreme color variations and relatively docile behavior. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of Pituophis catenifer. There has been controversy whether the Baja Gopher Snake is a lower classification of the Cape Gopher Snake. Some say the Baja Gopher Snake should be in a separate sub-species of Pituophis Vertebralis Bimaris, while Cape Gopher Snakes should remain Pituophis Vertebralis Vertebralis. Many people mistake the two as the same sub species and have cased some cross-breeding between the two. In captivity the bloodlines are nearly all related and breeding has become especially difficult in terms of keeping the bloodlines alive.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin6.47 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type223 records
Wild obs. + sensor180
Museum / vouchered43
Origin
Native29
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO680 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy78% within 1 km
≤100 m 83≤1 km 33≤10 km 16>10 km 17
149 georeferenced · 31 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor180
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy93% within 1 km
≤100 m 12≤1 km 1>10 km 1
14 georeferenced · 29 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence43
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions4 of 6 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
San Diego, US
32
Ensenada, MX
5
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Surlocation not on record
2
Mexico City, MX
1
Cambridge, US
1
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
1
6 institutions · 42 of 43 vouchered records shown · 1 without an institution code
