View source for Biology:Thamnophis saurita

{{Short description|Species of snake}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = ''Thamnophis saurita''
|image = EasternRibbonSnake.jpg
|image_caption = Eastern ribbon snake (''Thamnophis saurita saurita'')
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Thamnophis
|species = saurita
|authority = ([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766)<ref name=rdb>[http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Thamnophis&species=saurita ''Thamnophis saurita''], Reptile Database</ref>
|subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
|subdivision = Four, see text
|synonyms = *''Coluber saurita'' <br>{{small|[[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766}}
*''Tropidonotus saurita'' <br>{{small|— F. Boie, 1827}}
*''Leptophis sauritus'' <br>{{small|— Holbrook, 1842}}
*''Eutaenia saurita'' <br>{{small|— Baird & Girard, 1853}}
*''Prymnomiodon chalceus'' <br>{{small|Cope, 1861}}
*''Thamnophis sauritus'' <br>{{small|— Ruthven, 1908}}
*''Thamnophis saurita'' <br>{{small|— Kraus & Cameron, 2016}}
}}

'''''Thamnophis saurita''''', also known as the '''eastern ribbon snake'''{{efn|Used as a species-level common name.<ref name=rdb/> Not to be confused with the [[Biology:Thamnophis saurita saurita|subspecies of the same name]].}}, '''common ribbon snake''', or simply '''ribbon snake''', is a common [[Biology:Species|species]] of [[Biology:Garter snake|garter snake]] native to Eastern North America.<ref name=rdb/> It is a non-venomous<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-snakes/list/thamnophis-sauritus-sackenii/|title=Eastern Ribbonsnake|date=17 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/ribbonsnake.htm|title=Common Name}}</ref> species of snake in the subfamily [[Biology:Natricinae|Natricinae]] of the family [[Biology:Colubridae|Colubridae]]. The ribbon snake averages {{Convert|16 to 35|in|cm|abbr=}} in total length (including tail).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Conant, Roger|author2=Collins, Joseph T.|title=A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America|url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetorept00cona_0|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=0-395-90452-8}}</ref> It is dark brown with bright yellow stripes.<ref name="www.reptilefact.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reptilefact.com/eastern-ribbon-snake.html|title=Eastern Ribbon Snake Facts and Pictures {{!}} Reptile Fact|website=www.reptilefact.com|date=10 April 2017|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref> The ribbon snake is not sexually dimorphic; however, females are normally thicker than their male counterparts.

The ribbon snake can be found in wet climates such as lakes, streams, ponds and marshes. The ribbon snake is active from April to October and hibernates during the winter months. Maturity is reached around 3 years of age.<ref name="www.reptilefact.com"/>

==Subspecies==
The following four [[Biology:Subspecies|subspecies]] of ribbon snake are recognized as being valid:<ref name=rdb/>

*Eastern ribbon snake – ''T. s. saurita'' {{small|([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1766)}} – brown body with three distinctive stripes, typically yellow, one down the middle of the back and one down each side, that alternate with the brown body.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arkive.org/eastern-ribbon-snake/thamnophis-sauritus/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410232139/http://www.arkive.org/eastern-ribbon-snake/thamnophis-sauritus/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-04-10|title=Eastern ribbon snake videos, photos and facts - ''Thamnophis sauritus ''|website=Arkive|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-11-12}}</ref> Ranges from New York to Florida, west to the Mississippi River.
*[[Biology:Northern ribbon snake|Northern ribbon snake]] – ''T. s. septentrionalis'' {{small|Rossman, 1963}} – dark brown/black with yellow line down its back and often its sides; ranges from Maine through Ontario and Indiana.
*[[Biology:Southern ribbon snake|Southern ribbon snake]] or peninsula ribbon snake – ''T. s. sackenii'' {{small|(Kennicott, 1859)}} – tan or brown; ranges from South Carolina south through Florida.
*[[Biology:Bluestripe ribbon snake|Bluestripe ribbon snake]] – ''T. s. nitae'' {{small|Rossman, 1963}} – dark with light blue lateral stripes; Gulf Coast of north-central Florida.

''[[Social:Nota bene|Nota bene]]'': A [[Biology:Trinomen|trinomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a [[Biology:Genus|genus]] other than ''Thamnophis''.

==Habitat==
Ribbon snakes are semi-aquatic and are seldom found far from water. This species can be seen basking or resting along ponds, streams, swamps, and wet woodlands or grasslands. Shallow water is exploited both as hunting grounds and an escape route from predators. Overwintering sites are typically underground at higher elevations, such as under rock piles.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/wildlife/pdf_files/outreach/fact_sheets/ribbonsnake.pdf|title=Common Ribbonsnake|last=|first=|date=|website=ct.gov|access-date=2018-10-21}}</ref>

==Prey and predators ==
In order to hunt, ribbon snakes use a few of their senses including auditory and visual perception. Ribbon snakes do not eat warm-blooded prey, just as garter snakes, also of the [[Biology:Genus|genus]] ''[[Biology:Thamnophis|Thamnophis]]'', do not. Using their auditory and visual traits, they are able to prey upon newts, salamanders, frogs, toads, tadpoles, small fish, spiders, and earthworms. Meanwhile, they fall prey to mammals, birds, and larger amphibians and reptiles.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/ribbonsnake.htm|title=Scientific name: ''Thamnophis sauritus'' Common name: Ribbon Snake |website=Virtual Nature Trail at Penn State New Kensington |year=2016 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University |access-date=2018-10-30}}</ref> Ribbon snakes rarely use any aggressive form of defense. Instead, they use their brown bodies to camouflage with the surrounding vegetation. Along with this, they flee and hide in dense patches of grass in which they will coil up and get as low to the ground as possible. Given that snakes consume their prey whole, small individuals are particularly constrained in the size and shape of prey that can be consumed. These smaller snakes compensate for their smaller body size by having larger heads.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hampton |first1=Paul M. |title=Feeding performance in the Western Ribbon Snake (''Thamnophis proximus''): ontogeny and the effects of prey type and size |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |date=2011 |volume=89 |issue=10 |pages=945–950 |doi=10.1139/z11-072}}</ref>

== Reproduction ==
Beginning in the spring, after hibernation, ribbon snakes begin to look for another snake with which to mate. Ribbon snakes are ovoviviparous snakes, meaning they give birth to live young. The live young tend to be born in the summer, in litters of 4 to 27 snakes. Ribbon snakes tend to mature after two to three years, which is when they will be able to start breeding. Ribbon snakes tend to breed once or twice each year after they mature.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Thamnophis_sauritus/|title=''Thamnophis sauritus'' (Eastern Ribbonsnake) |publisher=Animal Diversity Web|language=en|access-date=2018-10-22}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|1}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Conant, Roger; Bridges, William (1939). ''What Snake Is That? A Field Guide to Snakes of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains''. (With 108 drawings by Edmond Malnate). New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Company. Frontispiece map + 163 pp. + Plates A–C, 1–32. (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 121–124 + Plate 23, figures 68, 69B).
* Kraus, Fred; Cameron, H. Don (2016). "A note on the proper nomenclature for the snake currently known as ''Thamnophis sauritus'' ". ''Herpetological Review'' '''47''' (1): 74–75. (''Thamnophis saurita'', new combination).
* [[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus C]] (1766). ''Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio Duodecima, Reformata''. Stockholm: L. Salvius. 532 pp. (''Coluber saurita'', new species, p. 385). (in Latin).
* Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. {{ISBN|978-0-544-12997-9}}. (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 430–431 + Plate 43).
* Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp., 34 plates, 103 figures. (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 255–257 + Plate 28).
*Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). ''Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification''. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. {{ISBN|0-307-13666-3}} (paperback), {{ISBN|0-307-47009-1}} (hardcover). (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 144-145).
* Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp., 306 figures, 70 maps. (in 2 volumes). (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 824–828, 831–834, Figures 239, 241 + Map 59 on p. 767). 
* Zim HS, Smith HM (1956). ''Reptiles and Amphibians: A Guide to Familiar American Species: A Golden Nature Guide''. New York: Simon and Schuster. 160 pp. (''Thamnophis sauritus'', pp. 105, 156).

==External links==
*[http://www.mister-toad.com/photos/snake/snake_eating_frog_01.html Ribbon Snake (''Thamnophis sauritus'') eating frog]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q306906}}

[[Category:Thamnophis|saurita]]

{{Sourceattribution|Thamnophis saurita}}