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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  

Plains Black-headed Snake
Tantilla nigriceps Kennicott, 1860
tan-TILL-ah — NY-gruh-seps

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

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Occurrences:; 2,404 Total; 1,772 Museum; 632 Other
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Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona Colorado Kansas Nebraska New Mexico Oklahoma Texas Wyoming

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its distinctively black head.
Tantilla — A diminutive form of Tantillus, itself likely derived from Latin tantus, meaning “so small” or “so little.” The name refers to the small size of these snakes.
nigriceps — From Latin niger (“black”) and -ceps from caput (“head”), meaning “black-headed.” Similar in meaning to atriceps, though sometimes used interchangeably in Latin names.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Black-headed Tantilla (Tantilla nigriceps: 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); Sonoran Tantilla (Tantilla nigriceps: 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.); Mitre Snake (Tantilla gracilis nigriceps: Brennan, Lawrence A. 1934. A check list of the amphibians and reptiles of Ellis County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 37():189-191); Texas Black-headed Snake (Tantilla kirnia: 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.); Great Plains Black-headed Snake (Tantilla nigriceps: 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.); Great Plains Black-headed Snake (Tantilla nigriceps: 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:
1860 Kennicott, Robert. Descriptions of new species of North American serpents in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 12:328-338
1936 Taylor, Edward H. Notes and comments on certain American and Mexican snakes of the genus Tantilla with descriptions of new species. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 39:335-348
1938 Blanchard, Frank N. Snakes of the genus Tantilla in the United States. Field Museum of Natural History. Zoological Series 20(28):369-376
1951 Brown, Bryce C. The Texan hooded snake in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Herpetologica 7:175
1982 Wilson, Larry David. Tantilla. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (307):1-4
2014 Wilson, Larry D. and Vincente Mata-Silva Snakes of the genus Tantilla (Squamata: Colubridae) in Mexico: Taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1(1):5-95

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 10 August 2026 04:08 CT