Storeria (genus)

Storeria
	Common brown snake ( Storeria dekayi )
Systematics
without rank:	Toxicofera
Subordination :	Snakes (serpentes)
Superfamily :	Adder-like and viper-like (Colubroidea)
Family :	Adders (Colubridae)
Subfamily :	Water snakes (Natricinae)
Genre :	Storeria
Scientific name
	Storeria
	Baird & Girard , 1853

Storeria is a genus of snakes from the family of the snakes (Colubridae), more precisely, the water snakes (Natricinae). The relatively small adders are found in North and Central America. The genus isnamed in honor of David Humphreys Storer .

features

Red-bellied brown snake ( Storeria occipitomaculata )

The head is slightly separated from the body. They reach a body length of around 30 centimeters. The body is mostly brown in color. The tail is relatively short compared to the body size.

The body scales are keeled and arranged in 15-17 rows. Abdominal scales are 120–140 present. All 41-51 tail scales ( scutum subcaudale ) are divided. The loreal can be present or absent. The anal is divided. Front of the eye are one or two preocular , above the eye always a Supraokulare and behind two to three Postokulare . Upper lip shields are usually 6–7 present, lower lip shields usually seven.

Systematics

5 species are placed in the genus Storeria :

Common brown snake ( Storeria dekayi ( Holbrook , 1839))
Storeria hidalgoensis Taylor , 1942
Red-bellied brown snake ( Storeria occipitomaculata Storer , 1839)
Storeria storerioides ( Cope , 1866)
Florida brown snake Storeria victa ( Hay , 1892)

Within the water snakes they belong to the tribe Thamnophiini (New World Natricinae).

distribution

Snakes of the genus Storeria occur in large parts of North, East, and Central America, while they are absent west of the Rocky Mountains . Storeria storerioides and Storeria hidalgoensis are restricted to Mexico . The distribution area of Storeria occipitomaculata extends in the northwest to the Canadian province of Saskatchewan , in the northeast to Québec and in the south to Missouri . Storeria dekayi lives in the east of America from Québec to Nicaragua .

Way of life

In contrast to most of the snakes, the water snakes of the genus Storeria are egg-bearing ( ovoviviparous ).

They feed mainly on insects and snails. With the latter it is possible for them to separate the snail from its shell by the snake biting into the body of the snail. Then the worm housing is clamped between stones or the like and pulled by means of body loops until the body of the worm separates from the housing, whereupon it is devoured. This process takes about ten minutes and is known only from a few other species of snakes.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Storeria in The Reptile Database
^ Spencer Fullerton Baird, Charles Frédéric Girard: Catalog of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I. - Serpents . 1853.
↑ Harold Trapido: The Snakes of the Genus Storeria . In: American Midland Naturalist . tape 31 , no. 1 , 1944.
^ Douglas A. Rossman, Patrick A. Myer: Behavioral and Morphological Adaptations for Snail Extraction in the North American Brown Snakes (Genus storeria) . In: Journal of Herpetology . tape 24 , no. 4 , 1990.

Web links

Commons : Storeria - collection of images, videos and audio files

[rd-1] Storeria in The Reptile Database

[bg53-2] Spencer Fullerton Baird, Charles Frédéric Girard: Catalog of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I. - Serpents . 1853.

[t44-3] Harold Trapido: The Snakes of the Genus Storeria . In: American Midland Naturalist . tape 31 , no. 1 , 1944.

[rm90-4] Douglas A. Rossman, Patrick A. Myer: Behavioral and Morphological Adaptations for Snail Extraction in the North American Brown Snakes (Genus storeria) . In: Journal of Herpetology . tape 24 , no. 4 , 1990.