Brown Snake in Clarksville Tennessee 2013

''Storeria'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

Natricinae The Natricinae are a subfamily of colubroid snakes, sometimes referred to as a family (Natricidae). The subfamily comprises 37 genera. Members include many very common snake species, such as the European grass snakes, and the North American wa ...

of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on eve ...

. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. The genus consists of five

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

, four of which are known as brown snakes, and the other of which is known as the redbelly snake.

Geographic range

Species in the genus ''Storeria'' are found in the eastern half of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and range south through

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and northern

Etymology

The genus is named in honor of American physician and naturalist

David Humphreys Storer David Humphreys Storer (March 26, 1804—September 10, 1891) was an American physician and naturalist. He served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1855–1864, and published on the reptiles and fishes of New Engla ...

(1804–1891).

Description

As their common names imply, most snakes of the genus ''Storeria'' are a variant of

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model ...

in color. The brown can vary depending on locale, to be almost a brick red in color, to nearly

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

. They sometimes have a lighter-colored stripe down the center of the back, and small

blotches along the body, and just behind the head. The underside is usually lighter brown-colored, yellow, or in the case of the redbelly snake, reddish in color. They rarely grow beyond in total length (including tail). One of the best means of identification is by scalation. The

dorsal scales In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales. Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publ ...

are keeled, the head has no

loreal scale The lore (adj. loreal) is the region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Ornithology In ornithology, the lore is the region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head. This region is sometimes featherless ...

, and the

postnasal scale In reptiles, the nasal scale refers to the scale that encloses the nostril.Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. 2003. True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. . Sometimes this ...

touches the preocular scale. So, only two scales are between the nasal opening and the eye. Sexually mature males will reach a SVL of 118 mm and females will reach 126 mm.

Ecology

Within their ranges, brown snakes are very commonly found species of snake. They are most frequently found under leaf litter or debris piles, and are sometimes turned up during gardening. They consume a variety of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...

prey, including,

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class ...

s and

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a ...

s. Their only means of defense are flattening of the body and excretion from the anal scent glands. Conant R (1975). ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. (hardcover), (paperback). (Genus ''Storeria'', p. 153). Brown snakes give birth to live young.

Species and subspecies

*''

Storeria dekayi ''Storeria dekayi'', commonly known as De Kay's brown snake, De Kay's snake, and simply the brown snake (along with many others), is a small non-venomous species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to North America and Cen ...

'' ( Holbrook, 1836) – brown snake **'' Storeria dekayi anomala'' Dugès, 1888 **'' Storeria dekayi dekayi'' ( Holbrook, 1836) – northern brown snake **'' Storeria dekayi limnetes''

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

, 1961 – marsh brown snake **'' Storeria dekayi temporalineata'' Trapido, 1944 **'' Storeria dekayi texana'' Trapido, 1944 – Texas brown snake **'' Storeria dekayi tropica''

Cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A c ...

, 1885 **'' Storeria dekayi wrightorum'' Trapido, 1944 – midland brown snake *'' Storeria hidalgoensis'' Taylor, 1942 – Mexican yellowbelly brown snake *''

Storeria occipitomaculata ''Storeria occipitomaculata'', commonly known as the redbelly snake or the red-bellied snake, is a species of snake endemic to North America (Canada and the United States). Description ''S. occipitomaculata'' is a small woodland species tha ...

'' ( Storer, 1839) – redbelly snake **'' Storeria occipitomaculata obscura'' Trapido, 1944 – Florida redbelly snake **''

Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata The northern redbelly snake (''Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata'') is a nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae, a subspecies of ''Storeria occipitomaculata''. It is sometimes referred to as a fire snake. It is endemic, North America ...

'' (Storer, 1839) – northern redbelly snake **'' Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae'' H.M. Smith, 1963 – Black Hills redbelly snake *'' Storeria storerioides'' (Cope, 1866) – Mexican brown snake *''

Storeria victa ''Storeria'' is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to North America and Central America. The genus consists of five species, four of which are known as brown snakes, and the other of wh ...

'' O.P. Hay, 1892 – Florida brown snake ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atte ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

or trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Storeria''.

Gallery

Image:BrownSnake_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake1_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake2_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake3_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake4_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnakeSM BrandonDempster.JPG

References

External links

Brown Snake (''Storeria dekayi'' )
Species account from the Savanna River Ecology Laboratory Herpetology Program (University of Georgia). Accessed April 6, 2014. *
Brown Snake - ''Storeria dekayi''
Species account from the Iowa Reptile and Amphibian Field Guide. {{Taxonbar, from=Q310717 Storeria Extant Pleistocene first appearances Snake genera Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird