How to identify it
Medium to large slender snake (23-88 cm snout-vent, sometimes over 1 m total) with a broad, flat head distinct from a slim neck and large eyes with vertical pupils. [1][2][3]
Pale gray, tan or light brown with 18-31 dark brown saddles or blotches edged pale and with light, divided centres, widest at the midline; 8-17 more on the tail. [1][2][3]
Dark V- or lambda-shaped (lyre) mark on top of the head and a dark bar across the snout between the eyes. [1][2][3]
Underside tan, pale yellow or light gray with scattered dark flecks near the edges. [1][2][3]
Compared with the california lyresnake (trimorphodon lyrophanes): Occurs west of the Salton Trough in southern California and Baja California; specimens from contact zones in southeastern California or southern Nevada may be hard to identify. [1][2][3]
Compared with the texas lyresnake (trimorphodon vilkinsonii): Hybridizes with the Sonoran lyresnake in extreme southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico; identify by locality. [1][2][3]
Species it is confused with
Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.
- California lyresnake · Trimorphodon lyrophanes
Field notes
- Identification Confirm a sonoran lyresnake before you act. Compared with the california lyresnake (trimorphodon lyrophanes): Occurs west of the Salton Trough in southern California and Baja California; specimens from contact zones in southeastern California or southern Nevada may be hard to identify.[1][2][3]
Where it lives
Chiefly rocky areas of lowlands, canyons, mesas and lower mountain slopes: desert grassland, desert scrub, chaparral, pinyon-juniper and oak woodland, open conifer forest and thornscrub; rarely far from rock, to about 910 m in California. [1][2][3]
How it behaves
Nocturnal: forages at night and occasionally early morning; reported active in every month but November, with a peak in April and May; hides in rock crevices by day. [1][2][3]
Eats bats, small rodents and lizards (such as side-blotched and granite night lizards) and probably ground-nesting birds; rear-fanged, with a hemolytic venom that CWHR calls presumably not dangerous to people. [1][2][3]
Secretive and never found in great numbers; lays eggs deep under rock cover. [1][2][3]
Limited legal take
Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.
Where legal take is listed
- California — reptile take · 2026 California Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations (updated July 10, 2026), 14 CCR 5.05/5.60
- Utah — reptile take · Reptile and amphibian species classification tables (R657-53), updated Apr. 22, 2026
Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.
Where it is found
Southern Nevada (Nye County) and extreme southwestern Utah south through most of Arizona (except the northeast), southwestern New Mexico and southeastern California east of the Salton Trough to Sonora, western Chihuahua and northern Sinaloa. Not in Canada.
Sources
Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.
NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30
NatureServe
California Department of Fish and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Wikipedia · reviewed 2026-09-30
Wikipedia