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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  

Common Glossy Snake
Arizona elegans Kennicott, in Baird, 1859
AIR-ih-ZOH-nah — EL-eh-ganz

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 “Common” was added to the English name to differentiate it from the English name of the genus due to an extralimital species (A. pacata Klauber, 1946). (Boundy, Jeff, Frank T. Burbrink, and Sara Ruane. 2025. Squamata (excluding lizards) – Snakes. Pages 38-54 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Errata/Changes: Using rangewide ddRAD (genome-scale data) and mitochondrial data, Wood et al. (2025, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 213: 108441) confirmed deeply divergent eastern and western lineages within the former A. elegans complex, with an abrupt transition near the Cochise Filter in southeastern Arizona. They restricted A. elegans to the eastern, long-tailed lineage and recognized the western, short-tailed lineage as A. occidentalis. Within A. elegans, they found strong support for A. e. philipi, whereas genomic and morphological variation between A. e. elegans and A. e. arenicola was clinal. Pending denser, systematic sampling of the intergrade zones, the authors retained the traditional subspecific taxonomy of the eastern lineage. See comments under A. occidentalis.

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Occurrences:; 5,091 Total; 3,382 Museum; 1,709 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona California Colorado Kansas Nebraska Nevada New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Utah

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its regional occurrence and its refined, elegant appearance.
Arizona — Named for the U.S. state of Arizona, where the type specimen was collected. The name reflects the geographic origin of the genus.
elegans — Latin for “elegant,” “graceful,” or “refined,” referring to the snake’s smooth scales, slender form, and often subtly attractive coloration.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Elegant Bull Snake (Pityophis elegans: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Faded Snake (Arizona elegans: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Elegant Snake (Arizona elegans: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio 4(4):1-31); Faded Snake (Arizona elegans: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Faded Snake (Arizona elegans: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Faded Snake (Arizona elegans elegans: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Western Faded Snake (Arizona elegans occidentalis: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Kansas Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans blanchardi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Western Mojave Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans candida: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans eburnata: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Texas Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans elegans: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Arizona Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans noctivaga: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); California Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans occidentalis: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Painted Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans philipi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1859 "1858" Baird, Spencer F. Reptiles of the Boundary, in: Volume 2, pt. 2. United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, U.S. 34th Congress, 1st Session, Executive Document 108. 1-35pp.
1946 Klauber, Laurence M. The Glossy Snake, Arizona, with descriptions of new subspecies. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 10(17):311-398
1959 Dixon, James R. Geographic variation and distribution of the long-tailed group of the Glossy Snake, Arizona elegans Kennicott. Southwestern Naturalist 4:20-29
1960 Dixon, James R. Arizona elegans in southeastern Texas. Herpetologica 15:72
1970 Bury, R. Bruce, Franklin Gress, and George C. Gorman. Karyotypic survey of some colubrid snakes from western North America. Herpetologica 26(4):461-466
1971 Fleet, Robert R. and James R. Dixon. Geographic variation within the long-tailed group of the glossy snake, Arizona elegans Kennicott. Herpetologica 27(3):295-302
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1976 Dixon, James R. and R. R. Fleet. Arizona, A. Elegans. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (179):1-4
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles. Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272
2016 Myers, Edward A., Michael J. Hickerson, and Frank T. Burbrink. Asynchronous diversification of snakes in the North American warm deserts. Journal of Biogeography 44(2):1-14
2017 Bezy, Robert L., Philip C. Rosen, Thomas R. Van Devender, and Erik F. Enderson. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1):138-167
2018 Dahn, Hollis A., Jason L. Strickland, Alejandra Osorio, Timothy J. Colston, and Christopher L. Parkinson. Hidden diversity within the depauperate genera of the snake tribe Lampropeltini (Serpentes, Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129(2018):214-225
2025 Wood, Dustin A., Jonathan Q. Richmond, Michael F. Westphal, Bradford D. Hollingsworth, Robert N. Fisher, and Amy G. Vandergast. Desert ecosystems shape diversification in glossy snakes (genus Arizona) requiring a re-alignment of evolutionary and conservation units. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 213(2025):108441

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 10 August 2026 03:02 CT