Masticophis

Masticophis is a genus of snakes, commonly referred to as whip snakes or coachwhips, in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to the Americas. Member species are characterized by having a long, thin body and are not dangerous to humans.

Masticophis

Uncredited · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
whip snakePBDB
Sits inside
ColubrinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 1.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 1 of 13 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 13 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 11 of 13 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 13 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.6–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.0–3.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.6–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–3.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.0–2.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.3–2.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.0–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.4 Mya – 129 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

13 occurrences of Masticophis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

13 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Long Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WPalomas — 33.10°N, 107.30°W

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The named rock units Masticophis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Masticophis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Masticophis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

522 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Masticophis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

12 references

Each of the 13 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Masticophis

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Masticophis was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itColubrinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Baird and Girard 1853