Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)

10 September 2014: We have a conundrum. My research tells me that this is a Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata), and whose common name is also spelled Queensnake at some online sites. Queen snakes are native, nonvenomous snakes endemic to the eastern half of the United States. This is not a large snake, females are larger than males. And females will grow up to 24 inches long (61cm), according to the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. So tops, this is a two-foot long snake and they’d be the females of the species. The one in the pics that I took at the North Lakes Park (South branch) in Denton, Texas, was at most a six-inch long juvenile. It was not a fully grown snake of this species, either male or female. It was foraging in the muddy and fast-drying bottom of a small irregular creek that empties into one of the two lakes that make-up the North Lakes Park. When I walked by and stopped after seeing it, it also saw me up top (from its down on the ground position). This all happened very fast. None of the pics I took are fully focused and I was focusing the camera manually. But they’re good enough I think to make the ID possible. One of the foods this snake eats is crayfish or crawdads, of which there are plenty in the lakes at this public park. One can see their mud funnels when the water levels drop and the crayfish go underground for a spell until the rains come and the water levels rise. It’s a periodic phenomenon. I don’t know whether this is a male or female Queen Snake. But here’s the kicker. I checked the sources we’ve cited below and consulted for the purpose of posting this observation and on re-reading and examining the range maps in particular discovered that the range of the Queen Snake is not supposed to reach into the North Texas area where these images were taken and much less even reach at all into the entire State of Texas. Consult the NatureServe range map and you’ll see what I mean. But this is not a garter snake with which the Queen Snake is often confused. Maybe I’ve committed the same taxonomic sin, maybe not. It certainly wouldn't be the first time or the last. It's all part of learning nature, one will err in knowing what things are (named especially when these names keep changing like DNA). You be the judge. The Queen Snake is an eastern species of the United States and it reaches up into southeastern Canada in the province of Ontario. Here’s what the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory entry for this species of snake says about their range: “Queen snakes range throughout Piedmont and mountainous regions of the eastern US, from the Great Lakes to central Louisiana. In our region, this species is common in the mountains and some regions of the Piedmont and its range extends along some river drainages into the Coastal Plain.” Now you must know too that the NatureServe range maps for this snake species at their online site do not include Louisiana either. The closest they come to Texas at all is Mississippi and Arkansas. So that’s the conundrum. My observation, this observation, does not concur with what information I accessed online in terms of the range for this snake species—Queen Snake. But I affirm that this is exactly what this snake is. Our brief encounter lasted all of maybe 30 seconds or so as it slithered on the mud surface over to the embankment opposite me (of course) and got lost in the thick grass at which point we did not pursue capturing it. So help me out and let’s make a definitive IDentification for this live subject that I documented not four miles from where I am today writing this iNat entry. Happy Holidays!

Sources:

“Regina septemvittata, Queen Snake,” NatureServe Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life, description, range maps, resource links, accessed 12.25.15, http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Regina+septemvittata

Wilson, J.D., “Queen Snake,” Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata), Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Herpetology Program, photographs, description, range maps, resource links, accessed 12.25.15, http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/regsep.htm