Tamaulipan Hook-nosed Snake

The Mexican hooknose snake is usually 5 to 11 in (13 to 28 cm) in total length (including tail). H.M. Smith and Brodie (1982) report a maximum total length of 47.9 cm (almost 19 inches). It is typically brown or gray in color, with as many as 60 brown or brown-green blotches down the back, which are elongated to almost appear as stripes. Its underside is white or cream-colored. Its most distinctive feature is an upturned snout, much like hognose snakes, which gives it its common name. However, unlike hognose snakes, the Mexican hooknose snake has smooth dorsal scales. Also distinctive is the arrangement of the head shields. There are no internasals, and the rostral separates the prefrontals and contacts the frontal. The smooth dorsal scales are arranged in 17 rows at midbody. The ventrals number 126–155, and the subcaudals number 28–41.

F. streckeri is found primarily in the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Puebla, eastern San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas, but its geographic range extends as far north as southern Texas in the United States.

The Mexican hooknose snake is mostly nocturnal, and is a burrower. It is fairly slow-moving and harmless to humans.

The specific name or epithet, streckeri, is in honor of the American naturalist John Kern Strecker Jr.