[2] In 1944 it was reassigned as a subspecies of Storeria occipitomaculata by Trapido,[3] and then in 1993 Flores-Villela reinstated it to full species rank, based partly on allopatry.

[5] The holotype of this species is deposited at the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History (Specimen no.

It is found in the eastern and south-central regions of the central Mexican plateau[5] where it ranges from Nuevo León, through Tamaulipas and eastern San Luis Potosí to northeastern Hidalgo at elevations between 1,400 and 1,800 m (4,600 and 5,900 ft) above sea level.

Labials are either gray, or contain variable amounts of dark pigment with the fifth supralabial being the lightest of the series.

[5] The specific name, hidalgoensis, is composed of hidalgo-, which refers to the Mexican state in which the type specimen was collected, and the Latin suffix -ensis, which means "belonging to".