Texas Patch-nosed Snake, West Lake Hills, TX 101908 pg. 3

Besides an enlarged rostral scale, other features used to identify these snakes include the pattern of longitudinal stripes on its dorsal body. The yellow-cream spinal stripe includes the spinal scale and half the adjacent scales, while that of the Big Bend patch-nosed snake (Salvadora deserticola) fully encloses the adjacent scales and, being three scales across, is remarkably wider. The spinal stripe of the Mountain patch-nosed snake (Salvadora grahamiae grahamiae), however, is similar to that of its Texas cousin. The dark stripe flanking the spinal stripe in the Texas subspecies encloses two full scales, and two half-scales, and is itself flanked by a thin, dark line on the third scale from the belly. The dark stripe of the Big Bend subspecies is two full scales wide; that of the Mountain subspecies is one full scale and two half-scales wide. The thin line below that is absent in the Mountain subspecies, but lies on the fourth scale from the belly in the Big Bend subspecies. All three subspecies have 17 smooth scales at mid-body. This serpent is a non-constricting colubrid, and though it is not considered dangerous, its oral secretions are mildly toxic.

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