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Home »» Snakes »» Colubridae (Colubrids) »» Smooth Earth Snakes »» Western Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae elegans)


Western Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae elegans)STATUS





Description: The western smooth earthsnake is a small, plain, slightly stout snake. It is gray, brown, or reddish brown, with no distinct markings except tiny black dots. Sometimes a faint stripe runs down the back. The belly is cream-colored or light yellow. Adult length: 7 to 10 inches; occasionally to slightly more than 15 inches.


Habitat: A secretive species, it lives in leaf litter and under rocks, logs, and other objects on rocky, wooded hillsides and in moist woods. Its preferred habitats are in open woodlands with moist, loose soils — places that provide ideal cover and loose soil for burrowing and locating earthworms, their favorite prey.


Range: southern Indiana through western Kentucky and Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to eastern Kansas and central Texas.


Found in these States: AL | AR | IA | IL | IN | KS | KY | LA | MO | MS | OK | TN


Diet: Foods include earthworms, slugs, and some soft-bodied insects such as cutworms (noctuid moth caterpillars that frequently live in the soil).


Reproduction: Mating usually occurs in April and May and possibly in the autumn. Females give birth to live young in August through September. Litters typically contain 2 to 14. Individuals become sexually mature by their second or third year of life.


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: Virginia
                     »» Species: Virginia valeriae - Smooth Earth Snakes
                       »» Subspecies: Virginia valeriae elegans - Western Smooth Earth Snake

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Smooth Earth 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.

 

 

 

 


Recommended Books at Amazon.com


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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