Thamnophis hammondii

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Colubridae

The family Colubridae, which includes the kingsnakes (Lampropeltis spp. ), is the largest, most widespread, and diverse family of snakes , with few physical characteristics universal among all species. The family contains 70 percent of the known species of snakes, with more than 1700 species worldwide (Pough et al. 1998). Although some colubrids are dangerously venomous , most are harmless to humans. [2]

Physical Description

Habitat

This species is considered one of the most aquatic of garter snakes and is typically associated with wetland habitats such as streams , creeks and pools (Fitch, 1940; Rossman, et al. 1996). It is closely associated with streams with rocky beds and bordered by willows (Stebbins, 1985); also ponds , lakes , wetlands and vernal pools. It also occurs in mixed oak, oak woodlands and chaparral on coastal slopes of mountains and foothills to sea level.

Generally found around pools, creeks, cattle tanks , and other water sources, often in rocky areas, in oak woodland, chaparral, brushland , and coniferous forest .[1]

Typically found in a lake at a mean distance from sea level of 317 meters (1,039 feet).[3]

Ecology: This highly aquatic and amphibious snake is generally found in or near permanent fresh water , often along streams with rocky beds bordered by willows and other riparian vegetation, including mountain slopes and desert oases (Jennings and Hayes 1994, Rossman et al. 1996, Grismer 2002, Stebbins 2003). In the southern part of its range it is restricted to palm oases.[4].

List of Habitats :

•     1     Forest   
  
•     1.4     Forest - Temperate   
  
•     5     Wetlands (inland)   
  
•     5.1     Wetlands (inland) - Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls )   
  
•     5.2     Wetlands (inland) - Seasonal/Intermittent/Irregular Rivers/Streams/Creeks   
  
•     5.3     Wetlands (inland) - Shrub Dominated Wetlands   
  
•     5.4     Wetlands (inland) - Bogs , Marshes, Swamps , Fens , Peatlands   
  
•     5.9     Wetlands (inland) - Freshwater Springs and Oases   
[more info]

Biology

Diet

Presumably, T. hammondii forages underwater, but no data on foraging behavior are available (Rossman, et al. 1996). Adults eat tadpoles , frogs , toads, small anurans and fish, fish eggs, and earthworms (Fitch, 1940; Stebbins, 1985; Van Denburgh and Slevin, 1918).

Eats tadpoles, newt larvae, small frogs and toads, fish, and occasionally worms and fish eggs. Probably forages for food in and under water. [1]

Reproduction

Much discussion has occurred regarding intergrading species of Thamnophis (Fitch, 1940, 1948; Rossman, 1979; Rossman and Stewart, 1987), though T. hammondii appears to be the lone taxon in western Riverside County. Courtship begins in Late March and early April (Cunningham, 1955). Clutch size ranges from 3 to 36, with an average of 15.6 in seven litters (Rossman, et al. , 1996). Stebbins (1985) noted that a captive animal gave birth to 25 young. Neonates are born in late July and August. Stewart (1972) reported that a female isolated from males for 53 months produced a living neonate, which suggests a type of sperm storage mechanism as can be found in some other species of snakes (e.g. , red-diamond rattlesnake).

Behavior

Primarily aquatic . Diurnal . Also active at night and at dusk during hot weather in some areas. Can be active from January to November depending on weather conditions. Most gartersnakes, when picked up, will often strike repeatedly and release cloacal contents and musk . [1]

Annual activity range is between January and November. During hot weather, T. hammondii may be crepuscular or nocturnal (Klauber, 1924).

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Thamnophis couchii hammondi Beltz 2003 • Thamnophis digueti Mocquard 1899 (Fide Mcguire and Grismer 1993) • Thamnophis elegans hammondii • Thamnophis hammondii digueti Stebbins 1985: 207 • Thamnophis hammondii — Liner 1994 • Thamnophis hammondii — Stebbins 1985: 207

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Named after William Alexander Hammond (1828-1900), American physician. Reproduction : ovoviviparous.

Formerly included in Thamnophis couchii. Includes T. digueti Mocquuard, 1899 of Baja California. The specific name in IUCN Red Lists prior to 2007 was incorrectly spelt as hammondi. (Ref. 310561).

Similar Species

The taxonomy of North American Pacific coast garter snakes (Thamnophis) has long been studied, debated and revised, leaving a convoluted trail of name changes, subdivisions and regroupings throughout the literature. Thamnophis hammondii was originally described by Kennicott in 1860. Since then, numerous scientists such as Cope (1900), Ruthven (1908), Van Denburgh and Slevin (1918), Fitch (1940, 1948), Fox (1948, 1951), Lawson and Dessauer (1979), Rossman (1979), Rossman and Stewart (1987), and McGuire and Grismer (1993) have vigorously presented their conclusions regarding the systematic relationship of the various species under the genus Thamnophis.

Fitch (1940) conducted an extensive study of this group and suggested that T. ordinoides, T. hammondii, and T. digueti (the three species recognized at that time) formed a group that he termed ordinoides artenkreis. Later, Fitch (1948) relegated T. hammondii to a subspecies of T. ordinoides, creating T. o. hammondii and leaving T. digueti as a full species. After further taxonomic revisions over the next 40 years, the species recognition included T. ordinoides, T. elegans, T. couchii, T. gigas, T. atratus, and T. hammondii; leaving T. digueti out of consideration, suggesting that it is excluded from the T. couchii complex (which includes the later four species listed).

The most recent study (Mcguire and Grismer, 1993) addressed the relationship of T. hammondii and T. digueti, concluding that they should be placed in the synonymy of T. hammondii of Kennicott (1860). They suggested that the observed variation in scale counts was random, resulting from isolation of various populations in Baja California. They hypothesize that the xerification of the Baja peninsula caused fragmentation of the previously continuous distribution of T. hammondii in Baja, possibly extending as far south as the ismuths of La Paz. Variation in color pattern and squamation, they suggest, occurred after this fragmentation.

Members of the genus Thamnophis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 68 species and subspecies in this genus:

T. angustirostris (Longnose Garter Snake) · T. atratus (Aquatic Gartersnake) · T. atratus atratus (Santa Cruz Garter Snake) · T. atratus hydrophilus (Aquatic Garter Snake) · T. brachystoma (Short-Headed Garter Snake) · T. butleri (Butler's Gartersnake) · T. chrysocephalus (Goldenhead Garter Snake) · T. couchii (Couch's Garter Snake) · T. couchii couchii (Western Aquatic Garter Snake) · T. cyrtopsis (Black-Necked Garter Snake) · T. cyrtopsis collaris (Black-Necked Garter Snake) · T. cyrtopsis ocellatus (Black-Headed Garter Snake) · T. elegans (Terrestrial Gartersnake) · T. elegans arizonae (Arizona Garter Snake) · T. elegans elegans (Mountain Garter Snake) · T. elegans terrestris (Coast Garter Snake) · T. elegans vagrans (Wandering Garter Snake) · T. elegans vascotanneri (Upper Basin Garter Snake) · T. eques (Mexican Gartersnake) · T. eques eques (Mexican Garter Snake) · T. eques megalops (Mexican Garter Snake) · T. exsul (Montane Garter Snake) · T. fulvus (Highland Garter Snake) · T. gigas (Giant Gartersnake) · T. godmani (Godman's Garter Snake) · T. hammondi (Two-Striped Garter Snake) · T. hammondii (Two-Striped Gartersnake) · T. marcianus (Checkered Garter Snake) · T. melanogaster (Blackbelly Garter Snake) · T. melanogaster melanogaster (Blackbelly Garter Snake) · T. mendax (Tamaulipan Montane Garter Snake) · T. ordinoides (Northwestern Gartersnake) · T. ordinoides ordinoides (Northwestern Garter Snake) · T. proximus (Western Ribbon Snake) · T. proximus diabolicus (Arid Land Ribbon Snake) · T. proximus orarius (Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake) · T. proximus (Western Ribbon Snake) · T. proximus rubrilineatus (Redstripe Ribbon Snake) · T. radix (Plains Gartersnake) · T. radix haydeni (Plains Garter Snake) · T. radix haydenii (Western Plains Garter Snake) · T. radix radix (Eastern Plains Garter Snake) · T. rossmani (Rossman's Garter Snake) · T. rufipunctatus (Narrow-Headed Garter Snake) · T. rufipunctatus rufipunctatus (Narrowhead Garter Snake) · T. sauritus (Eastern Ribbonsnake) · T. sauritus nitae (Blue-Striped Ribbon Snake) · T. sauritus sackenii (Eastern Ribbon Snake) · T. sauritus sauritus (Eastern Ribbon Snake) · T. sauritus septentrionalis (Eastern Ribbon Snake) · T. scalaris (Longtail Alpine Garter Snake) · T. scaliger (Short-Tail Alpine Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis (San Francisco Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis annectens (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis concinnus (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis dorsalis (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis fitchi (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis infernalis (California Red-Sided Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis pallidulus (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis parietalis (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis pickeringii (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis semifasciatus (Chicago Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis similis (Blue-Striped Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis sirtalis (Common Garter Snake) · T. sirtalis tetrataenia (Common Garter Snake) · T. sumichrasti (Sumichrast's Garter Snake) · T. valida (West Coast Garter Snake) · T. valida valida (West Coast Garter Snake)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A check list of North American amphibians and reptiles / by Leonhard Stejneger and Thomas Barbour. Cambridge [Mass.]: Harvard University Press, 1917. url p. 101.
• Biosphere Reserves, Compilation 4, October 1986: programme on man and the biosphere (MAB) IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre url p. 509.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 162, p. 203.
• Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences Los Angeles, Calif.: The Academy, 1971- url p. 12, p. 14, p. 15, p. 17, p. 2, p. 22, p. 24, p. 6, p. 77, p. 9.
• California fish and game. [San Francisco, etc.]: State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game. url p. 21, p. 5.
• Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) by George Albert Boulenger. London, Trustees of the B.M., 1893-96. url p. 601.
• North American fauna. Washington: Fish and Wildlife Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U. S. Govt. Print. Off. url p. 161, p. 212.
• Notes on a collection of reptiles made by Mr. C. J. Pierson at Fort Smith, Arkansas, with remarks on other eastern reptiles. Wheeling, W. Va., 1899. url , .
• Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, url p. 15, p. 212, p. 833, p. 838, p. 844.
• Patterns of snake evolution suggested by their proteins: a contribution in celebration of the distinguished scholarship of Robert F. Inger on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday / Herbert C. Dessauer, John E. Cadle, Robin Lawson. 34 1987 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1987. url p. 13.
• Proceedings - California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 149, p. 150, p. 151, p. 260.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1979- url p. 21, p. 37, p. 38, p. 48.
• The University of Kansas science bulletin. 33 1950 [Lawrence]: University of Kansas, 1902-1996. url p. 379.
• The reptiles of the Pacific coast and Great Basin; an account of the species known to inhabit California and Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. San FranciscoCalifornia Academy of Sciences1897 url p. 15, p. 16, p. 212.
• The reptiles of western North America, an account of the species known to inhabit California and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora and Lower California, by John Van Denburgh, with one hundred and twenty-eight plates. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences, 1922. url p. 838.
• Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 10 1946 [San Diego]: The Society, 1905-1989. url p. 359, p. 410.

Notes

Contributors

• Baillie, J. 1996. Thamnophis hammondii. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org . Downloaded on 20 October 2006.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Frost, D.R., Hammerson, G.A. & Hollingsworth, B. 2007. Thamnophis hammondii. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.
• Frost, D.R., Hammerson, G.A. and Hollingsworth, B. 2007. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 27, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 3 providers.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program, Understanding the Plants and Animals of Western Riverside County MSHCP University of California, Berkeley and Center for Conservation Biology, University of California, Riverside.
• Nafis, Gary. California Reptiles and Amphibians. Accessed June 23, 2009.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.
• TIGR Reptile Database . Release date: October 2, 2007
• Uetz, Peter. The Reptile Database

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 27, 2008:

• California Academy of Sciences: CAS Herpetology Collection Catalog
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2545653
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Rep-7147
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 209149
• IUCN ID: 246005
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ARADB36160
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 17661

Footnotes

1. Nafis, Gary. California Reptiles and Amphibians [back]
2. Painter, Charles W., Chuck L. Hayes, and James N. Stuart "Recovery and Conservation of the Gray-Banded Kingsnake. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. May 1, 2002. [back]
3. Standard Deviation = 449.950 based on 57 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
4. Frost, D.R., Hammerson, G.A. & Hollingsworth, B. 2007. Thamnophis hammondii. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.