Snake Master: The World of the Serpents

01 - The Search for the Black-bellied Rattlesnake -

5th of January in year 2025, Kevin Higgins (25) and his two others fellow herpers Rance Gilmore (24) and Sandra Diaz (24), who were exploring the Hummingbird Spring Wilderness, which is located in the northwest of Maricopa County, Arizona, who were on their expedition to find s new species of rattlesnake called the Black-bellied Rattlesnake (Crotalus woodsoni). As the trio continued to search, they stumbled on a new species of snake, the Regal Ringneck Snake (Diadophis regalis), a former subspecies of the Common Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus), which moved from subspecies to a full separated species recently. The Regal Ringneck Snake has three recognizable subspecies: the Regal Ringneck Snake (Diadophis regalis regalis) is found in southwestern United States and northern Mexico, the Hummingbird Springs Ringneck Snake (Diadophis regalis horneri) is found only in northwestern Arizona and the Sorensen's Ringneck Snake (Diadophis regalis muñozi) is found in southwestern California, southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Now the trio is handling the snake gently with their bare hands.

"This is an interesting new species." Sandra Diaz said.

"Yes. Even though Diadophis genus will no longer has a single species, the Regal Ringneck Snake is the official 2nd new species of Ringneck Snake." Rance Gilmore said.

"Perfect timing," Kevin Higgins said. "This is our first new snake of the day."

Kevin, Rance and Sandra document and taking few photographs of the Regal Ringneck Snake (Diadophis regalis) and then released the snake back to the wild.

"Alright, let's continued searching for the Black-bellied Rattlesnake (Crotalus woodsoni)." Sandra Diaz said.

Rance and Kevin were nodded as they nodded as they keep searching for the Black-bellied Rattlesnake (Crotalus woodsoni), then they spotted a new species of rattlesnake called Hopi Rattlesnake (Crotalus nuntius), a former subspecies of Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis). The Hopi Rattlesnake has three recognized subspecies: the Arizona Hopi Rattlesnake (Crotalus nuntius nuntius)is found only in northeastern Arizona, while the Silver Lipped Rattlesnake (Crotalus nuntius christopheri) is found in north central Arizona, western New Mexico, northern Texas and western Oklahoma. The Ghost Rattlesnake (Crotalus  nuntius virgili) is found only in southwestern Utah. The trio used their respective snake tongs to handle the Hopi Rattlesnake very carefully.

"This is a nice specimen. A good size adult." Sandra Diaz said.

"There came from different ages depending on their geographical ranges and habitats." Kevin Higgins said.

"We also need to monitoring their populations and studied the venom of this new species." Rance Gilmore said.

"That's important to monitoring their populations." Sandra Diaz said.

"We also keeping an eye on studying its subspecies from different ranges." Kevin Higgins said.

Later, the team document and taking few photographs of the Hopi Rattlesnake (Crotalus nuntius), then they carefully released the snake back to the wild.

"That's a great find, we need to find the Black-bellied Rattlesnake (Crotalus woodsoni)." Kevin Higgins said.

The team continued to search for the Hopi Rattlesnake (Crotalus nuntius), then they spotted a new species of snake called the Common Puffing Racer (Trivolis puffus) crawling out from another thick bush. Common Puffing Racer is from the new subfamily of Colubridae called Trivolinae, Trivolis is the new genus of Trivolinae, it is a non-venomous constrictor colubrid, it has no recognized subspecies, it is found in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. Kevin holding the snake very gently with his barehands.