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Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus) Ribbon snakes are sleek, boldly striped serpents that are equally at home roosting in shoreside shrubs or gliding swiftly across the water's sur-face. These agile semiaquatic creatures seldom are found far from dense cover, where they retire at the first sign of danger. In Maine they seem to be both elusive and rare. Garter snakes are quite similar in appearance, and this similarity may be part of the reason why so few reports exist for T. sauritus; observers may assume the snake they saw was just another garter snake, Maine's most common snake. Description: Ribbon snakes are small thin snakes with longitudinally striped bodies. They are best distinguished from their close relative the garter snake by their long thin tails, which are about 1/3 of the total body length. Ribbon snakes also have 3 conspicuous yellow or buffy stripes. Some garter snakes may also have 3 stripes, but they usually contain alternating rows of dark brown or black blotches between the rows of stripes. In ribbon snakes the lateral striping occurs on scale rows 3 and 4 for the entire length of the body (Wright and Wright 1957). Garter snakes usually have stripes on scale rows 2 and 3, and may have stripes on their fourth row of scales, (Conant 1975). Ribbon snakes vary in size from 40 to 90 cm (16-35"), with the tail accounting for 1/3 or more of the total length (Wright and Wright 1957; Gilhen 1984). Taxonomic Status: The eastern T. s. sauritus and northern T. s . septentrionalis ribbon snakes found in this region are part of a 4 subspecies complex, which also includes peninsula ribbon snakes (T. s. sackeni) and blue-striped ribbon snakes (T. s. nitae). Collectively they range from Nova Scotia (Gilhen 1984) to southern Florida (Conant 1975). Eastern ribbon snakes can be confused with northern ribbon snakes, but the latter subspecies has a brownish-yellow dorsal stripe that contrasts with their greenish-yellow lateral stripes (Gilhen 1984). In the eastern ribbon snake the dorsal stripe and lateral stripes tend to be identically colored. In addition, northern ribbon snakes tend to be black or dark brown on the back, while eastern ribbon snakes are reddish-brown (Gilhen 1984). Northern ribbon snakes are usually slightly smaller than eastern and also have tails that are usually slightly less than 1/3 their total length (Conant 1975). Records gathered by MARAP were not sufficient for distinguishing the ranges of the 2 sub-species in Maine because most observers were not confident of their sub-specific identifications. |
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