Hognose
common name for several colubrid snake species
Hognose snake is a common name for several unrelated species of snakes with upturned snouts, classified in two colubrid snake genera and one pseudoxyrhophiid snake genus.
They include the following genera:
Heterodon, which occur mainly in the United States and northern Mexico
Leioheterodon, the hognose snakes native to Madagascar
Lystrophis, the South American hognose snakes.
The North American Heterodon species are known for their habit of thanatosis: playing dead when threatened.
Species
Genus Heterodon:
The following Heterodon classifications are found in the 9th edition (last updated: 31 March 2025) of the "Checklist of the Standard English Names of Amphibians & Reptiles" from the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
Mexican hognose snake, Heterodon kennerlyi Kennicott, 1860
Western hognose snake, Heterodon nasicus Baird & Girard, 1852
Western/Plains hognose snake, Heterodon nasicus nasicus Baird & Girard, 1852
Gloyd's hognose snake, Heterodon nasicus gloydi Edgren, 1952
Eastern hognose snake, Heterodon platirhinos Latreille, 1801
Southern hognose snake, Heterodon simus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Genus Leioheterodon:
Speckled hognose snake, Leioheterodon geayi (Mocquard, 1905)
Malagasy giant hognose snake, Leioheterodon madagascariensis (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)
Blonde hognose snake, Leioheterodon modestus (Günther, 1863)
Genus Lystrophis:
South American hognose snake, Lystrophis dorbignyi (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A Duméril, 1854)
Jan's hognose snake, Lystrophis histricus (Jan, 1863)
Lystrophis matogrossensis Scrocchi & Cruz, 1993
Lystrophis nattereri (Steindachner, 1867)
Tricolor hognose snake, Lystrophis pulcher (Jan, 1863)
Ringed hognose snake, Lystrophis semicinctus (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a different genus.
Description
The hognose snakes' most distinguishing characteristic is their upturned snout/rostral scale, which aids in digging in sandy soils by using a sweeping, side to side motion. They also like to burrow in masses of humus. Lieoheterodon species are known to dig up the eggs of lizards.
Hognose snakes are extremely variable in color and pattern. Heterodon nasicus and H. kennerlyi tend to be sandy colored with black and white markings, while H. platirhinos varies from reds, greens, oranges, browns, to melanistic (i.e.
The public source identifies “Hognose” as common name for several colubrid snake species. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hognose, common and name.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5877356. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1860, 1852 and 1952.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hognose” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.