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Home »» Snakes »» Colubridae (Colubrids) »» Glossy Swamp Snakes »» Delta Swamp Snake (Liodytes rigida deltae)


Delta Swamp Snake (Liodytes rigida deltae)STATUS





Description: This is a shiny, heavy bodied, 20 to 30 inch long, aquatic snake. Mud brown to olive brown dorsally with 4 stripes, 2 dorsolaterally and 2 laterally, that are variably discernable. There are 2 rows of dark crescents on the yellow to off-white venter. No dark lines on the sides of the yellow throat. Upper labials (lip) yellow. The 3 subspecies are very difficult to differentiate; use range. This subspecies may have only one preocular scale on one or both sides of the face.


Habitat: Habitats include slow waters of lowland areas, such as swamps, nontidal and tidal freshwater marshes, sphagnum bogs, pocosins, seepage wetlands, ponds, lakes, flatwoods ponds, cypress ponds, bayous, rice fields, canals, drainage ditches, mucky areas along streams, and floodplains; also sometimes grassy or wooded upland habitats adjacent to wetlands. Usually this snake is secluded in burrows (e.g., crayfish, muskrat), under mats of wet vegetation or debris at the water's edge, or among aquatic plants, but occasionally it basks on banks or on vegetation over water. It may travel on land during rain.


Range: USA (Louisiana); Type locality: Paradis, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana.


Found in these States: LA


Diet: Adults eat mainly crayfish, young eat small aquatic invertebrates such as dragonfly larvae; also fishes, frogs, and salamanders.


Reproduction: Gives birth to 6 to 16 young in summer.


Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a degree of habitat modification, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.


Taxonomy:

»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
   »» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
     »» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
       »» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
         »» Order: Squamata - Scaled Reptiles
           »» Suborder: Serpentes
             »» Superfamily: Colubroidea
               »» Family: Colubridae - Colubrids
                   »» Genus: Liodytes
                     »» Species: Liodytes rigida - Glossy Swamp Snake or Crayfish Snake
                       »» Subspecies: Liodytes rigida deltae - Delta Swamp Snake

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Crayfish snake", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.

 

 

 

 


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U.S. Guide to Venomous Snakes and Their Mimics     Venomous Snakebite in the Western United States     Venomous Snakes Of The Southeast     The 10 Most Dangerous Snakes in the United States and Canada



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Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 
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