Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iTexas Rat Snake

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Elaphe
Species:	E. obsoleta
Subspecies:	E. o. lindheimeri

Binomial name

Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri
Say, 1823

Synonyms

Elaphe obsoleta lindheimerii
Baird & Girard, 1853
Scotophis Lindheimerii
Baird & Girard, 1853

The Texas Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri) is a species of rat snake, a non-venomous colubrid found in the United States, primarily within the state of Texas, but its range also extends into Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It intergrades with other subspecies of Elaphe obsoleta, so exact range boundaries are impossible to distinguish. The epithet lindheimeri is to honor the German-American naturalist Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer, who collected the first specimen in New Braunfels, Texas.

1 Description
2 Behavior
3 Taxonomy
4 Gallery
5 References

[edit] Description

The Texas Rat Snake is a fairly large snake, capable of attaining lengths past six foot. They vary greatly in color and patterning throughout their range, but they are typically yellow or tan in color, with brown to olive green irregular blotching from head to tail. Specimens from the southern area of their range tend to have more yellow on them, while those from the northern range tend to be darker. Some specimens also have red or orange speckling. Their belly is typically a solid gray or white in color. There are several naturally occurring color variations, including albinos, high orange or hypomelanistic, and a few specimens which display leucisism which have become regularly captive bred and are popular in the pet trade.

[edit] Behavior

The Texas Rat Snake has a voracious appetite, consuming large amounts of rodents and birds, and sometimes lizards and frogs which they subdue with constriction. They are generalists, found in a wide range of habitats from swamps, to forests to grasslands, even in urban areas. They are agile climbers, able to reach bird nests with relative ease. They are often found around farmland, and will sometimes consume fledgeling chickens and eggs, which leads them to be erroneously called the chicken snake. They are known for their attitude, and will typically bite if handled, though their bite is harmless.

[edit] Taxonomy

Many sources continue to refer to the Texas Rat Snake by its scientific name, Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri, though all North American rat snake species were suggested for reclassification to the genus Pantherophis. A further revision of Pantherophis obsoletus has recommended the elimination of the various subspecies entirely, considering them all to be merely locality variations.

It should be noted that while a taxonomic suggestion has been made to change the genus Elaphe to Pantherophis, and this suggestion has been taken up by the web community at large, most herpetologists do not accept the suggestion and Herpetological Review 2003 34(3) rejected the taxonomic change. One argument against the change is that the Russian study that suggested it was based off of mitochondrial DNA evidence, not nuclear DNA and thus no relevance to the reproductive and nuclear genetic relatedness of the genera can be inferred from the data.