Rainbow mud snake
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Rainbow mud snake ( Farancia erytrogramma ) |
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| Farancia erytrogramma | ||||||||||||
| Palisot de Beauvois , 1802 |
The rainbow mud snake ( Farancia erytrogramma ), sometimes referred to as the rainbow snake , is a non-poisonous species of snake in the adder family . In addition to the nominate form Farancia erytrogramma erytrogramma , a distinction is made between the extinct subspecies Farancia erytrogramma seminola .
features
The rainbow mud snake is a close relative of the mud snake ( Farancia abacura ). It has a long, strongly built body that usually reaches an overall length of 91 to 122 cm. The largest captured specimen was 168 cm long. The females are significantly longer than the males. The narrow head and neck are roughly the same width. The tongue is very short and reduced. The scales are shiny and iridescent. The background color is dark and three clearly marked reddish and pink stripes extend the length of the back. The belly is patterned even more noticeably. A double row of black spots stretches out on a bright yellow to red background. The scales are smooth and the vent scale is usually divided. The rainbow mud snake has a protruding horny scale on the tip of its tail, presumably to hold on to slippery food like eels and salamanders. The newly hatched snakes reach a body length of 200 to 220 mm and are similar in their habitus to the old snakes.
distribution
The rainbow mud snake is native to central Florida, Georgia , eastern Louisiana , eastern Virginia , Alabama , Maryland , Mississippi , North Carolina, and South Carolina . The subspecies Farancia erytrogramma seminola was restricted to Fisheating Creek in Glades County in southern Florida.
habitat
The rainbow mud snake inhabits streams, rivers, cypress swamps, and brackish marshland. It prefers clear spring waters and flowing waters. Although the rainbow mud snake is a strict aquatic inhabitant, it can occasionally be seen during hibernation in sandy fields near the wetlands.
Way of life
The rainbow mud snake is mainly nocturnal. The food of the old animals consists of American eels ( Anguilla rostrata ), which has given them the common name Eel moccasin . The juvenile snakes feed on amphibians, tadpoles and small fish. The mating season is in spring and each female lays 10 to 52 eggs in an underground cave in the sandy bottom. The females often stay with the eggs until the young hatch after 60 to 80 days. The rainbow mud snake has numerous predators, including raccoons, otters, bobcats , red-shouldered buzzards and chain snakes .
status
Due to its secret way of life, it is difficult to determine the population status of this species. Dams that interfere with upstream and downstream migration of the American eel negatively impact the populations of this species of snake upstream. The subspecies Farancia erytrogramma seminola has not been detected since the 1950s and was officially declared extinct in 2011.
literature
- Wilfred T. Neill: Taxonomy, Natural History, and Zoogeography of the Rainbow Snake, Farancia erytrogramma (Palisot de Beauvois). In: American Midland Naturalist. Vol. 71, no. 2 (Apr. 1964), pp. 257-295
- John B. Jensen, Carlos D. Camp, Whit Gibbons: Amphibians and reptiles of Georgia . University of Georgia Press, 2008. pp. 351-352
Web links
- Farancia erytrogramma in The Reptile Database
- Florida Museum of Natural History - Rainbow Snake
- Farancia erytrogramma inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: Hammerson, GA, 2007. Retrieved January 5, 2014.