Ficimia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of colubrid

Colubrid

A colubrid is a member of the snake family Colubridae. This broad classification of snakes includes about two-thirds of all snake species on earth. The earliest species of the snake family date back to the Oligocene epoch. With 304 genera and 1,938 species, Colubridae is the largest snake family...

 snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s commonly known as hooknose snakes or hook-nosed snakes. There are seven species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 within the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

.

Geographic range

They are native primarily to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, but they also range into the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the southern tip of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and as far south as Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

, Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

 and Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

.

Description

Hooknose snakes are typically gray or olive green in color, with brown

Brown

Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color....

 or black

Black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

 blotching down the back, and a cream-colored underside. They grow to a length of 5–11 in (12.7–27.9 cm) and have a distinct upturned snout, which is similar to that of hognose snakes

Hognose

The hognose snake is a type of colubrid snake characterized by an upturned snout. They are notorious for playing dead when threatened. The hognose snakes consist of three distantly related genera that are artificially grouped together by the "hognose" common name: Heterodon which are predominantly...

 (genus Heterodon), and is used to aid in burrowing in loose, sandy soil. The dorsal scales are smooth (keeled in Heterodon), and the anal plate is divided.

Species

• Ficimia hardyi Mendoza-Quijano & H.M. Smith, 1993 – Hardy's hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia olivacea Gray
  John Edward Gray
  John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
  
  , 1849 – Mexican hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia publia Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
  
  , 1866 – blotched hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia ramirezi H.M. Smith & Langebartel, 1949 – Ramirez's hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia ruspator H.M. Smith & Taylor
  Edward Harrison Taylor
  Edward Harrison Taylor was an American herpetologist from Kansas.He was born in Maysville, Missouri and studied at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating with a B.A. in 1912. Subsequently, he went to the Philippines, where at first he held a teacher's post in a village in central...
  
  , 1941 – Guerreran hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia streckeri
  Ficimia streckeri
  Ficimia streckeri, commonly known as the Mexican hooknose snake or Tamaulipan hooknose snake, is a small species of colubrid snake...
  
  Taylor
  Edward Harrison Taylor
  Edward Harrison Taylor was an American herpetologist from Kansas.He was born in Maysville, Missouri and studied at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating with a B.A. in 1912. Subsequently, he went to the Philippines, where at first he held a teacher's post in a village in central...
  
  , 1941 – Strecker's hook-nosed snake
• Ficimia variegata (Günther, 1858) – Tehuantepec hook-nosed snake