Eastern Glossy Snake

(Arizona elegans)

 

"Kansas Glossy Snake"

Color Photograph: U.S. Forest Service

 

Eastern Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans)

Identification: Light brown to light gray above with darker, vaguely rectangular, blotches above edged with black. Sides with irregular darker blotches. Underside dull white or light tan without markings. Dorsal scales smooth, without ridges. Head typically with a black light slanting backward and downward from the eye. Anal plate single.

Geographical Variation:

Kansas Glossy Snake (A. e. elegans): Dorsum with 39-69 large, dark blotches; 29-31 scale rows. Range: From Nebraska southward to western Texas and into Mexico.

Texas Glossy Snake (A. e. arenicola): Dorsum with 41-58 blotches and 29-35 scales rows. Range: Southeastern Texas.

Painted Desert Glossy Snake (A. e. philipi): Dorsum with 53-80 blotches and 27 scales rows. Range: Southeastern Utah to eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.

Range (see map on left): The Glossy Snake is found in the central and southwestern United States from southern Texas in the east to eastern Arizona. It extends northward to Kansas and eastern Colorado. The species extends southward into northern Mexico. The U.S. distribution is complicated and is broken into a number of finger-like populations.

Habitat: The Glossy Snake is found in a number of xeric habitats from chaparral, grasslands, shrub desert, and barren desert.

Food: This species feeds on lizards and other snakes as well as mammals.

Behavior: The Glossy Snake is nocturnal and spends most of the daytime underground. Mammals are killed in part by constriction of the prey.

Reproduction:  The clutch of 3-23 eggs is laid in summer. Reproductive biology uncertain because of confusion with the Western Glossy Snake.

 

Eastern Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans)

Similar Species: 

Western Glossy Snake (Arizona occidentalis)

Night Snake (Hypsiglena torquata)

Great Plains Rat Snake (Elaphe emoryi)

 

 Similar Species