Glossy snake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Glossy snake | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Arizona elegans occidentalis
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona elegans (Kennicott in Baird, 1859) |
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Coluber arizonae Boulenger, 1894 |
Arizona elegans is a small colubrid snake commonly referred to as the glossy snake. The genus Arizona has only one officially recognized species, A. elegans, with several subspecies. Some have recommended that A. elegans occidentalis be granted full species status.
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[edit] Subspecies
Subspecies of Arizona elegans include:
- Arizona elegans arenicola - Texas glossy snake (Dixon, 1960)
- Arizona elegans candida - Western Mojave glossy snake (Klauber, 1946)
- Arizona elegans eburnata - desert glossy snake (Klauber, 1946)
- Arizona elegans elegans - Kansas glossy snake (Kennicott, 1859)
- Arizona elegans expolita - Chihuahua glossy snake
- Arizona elegans noctivaga - Arizona glossy snake (Klauber, 1946)
- Arizona elegans occidentalis - California glossy snake (Blanchard, 1924))
- Arizona elegans pacata - peninsula glossy snake
- Arizona elegans philipi - Painted Desert glossy snake (Klauber, 1946)
[edit] Description
The glossy snake and its many subspecies are all similar in appearance to gopher snakes. They are small, with narrow, pointed heads, and a variety of skin patterns and colors. They are nonvenomous, nocturnal predators of small mammals and lizards. Most subspecies are ca. 75-130 cm (ca. 30-50 inches) in length and are shades of tan, brown, and gray with spotted patterns on their smooth, glossy skin and a white or cream-colored unmarked ventral surface. Coloration often varies in relation to the color of the soil in a snake's native habitat.
[edit] Habitat
Habitat is normally semi-arid grasslands of the southwestern United States, from California in the west to Kansas in the east and as far south as Texas, and northern Mexico.
[edit] Reproduction
Glossy snakes are oviparous. They breed in the late spring and early summer and young hatch out in the early fall. Clutches average from 10 to 20 young that are approximately 25 cm long.
[edit] References
- Arizona elegans (TSN 174202). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 6 February 2006.
- Species Arizona elegans at The Reptile Database
