Southwestern Blackhead Snake vs. Western Black-headed Snake

Both are small capped snakes; their records touch in the mountains at the desert edge. A: Reaches less than 1 scale onto the neck; the edge straight or rounded; does not reach the corner of the mouth in the Southwestern Blackhead Snake; reaches 1.5 to 3 scales onto the neck and down to or behind the corner of the mouth in the Western Black-headed Snake. B: Narrow (1 scale or less), faint, often broken on top in the Southwestern Blackhead Snake; broad (1.5 to 2 scales) and sharp, edged behind with dark spots or a fine dark line in the Western Black-headed Snake. C: White to pale pink; coral-red to orange only on the rear belly and under the tail in the Southwestern Blackhead Snake; white in front; bright coral-red to orange-red over the rear two-thirds and under the tail (no open photo of the belly) in the Western Black-headed Snake. Range decides most of the time: deserts and desert mountains (Southwestern) vs the coast side (Western).

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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