Coluber constrictor
Black Snake ( Coluber constrictor ), North Carolina
The black snakes ( Coluber constrictor ), also known as American whip snake belong to the harmless snakes in North America. They move very quickly and are more often encountered in particular in the gardens of villages and suburbs. Hence also their English name Northern or Eastern ( Black ) racer. As food they serve mainly birds and their nests, but also other small animals, such as insects and amphibians.
Features
The black snake reaches a body length of 90-190 centimeters. The nominate subspecies and some are colored black or very dark, but the color varies greatly from black, blue, gray and olive brown. Chin and throat are lighter in color, from white to yellow-brown, and go about in a black, dark gray, bluish, cream, yellow or white belly. To their bodies are 17 scale rows, towards the tail only 15 rows. The Analplatte of animals is divided.
Young are spotted with gray, brown or reddish spots that are increasingly fade in old age and are no longer visible to about 30 centimeters in length. The males have a slightly longer tail than females with a broad base, in the latter case there is no transition between the body and tail is visible.
Distribution and habitat
The black snake is distributed with several subspecies in North and Central America. Here, the circulation area covers almost the entire United States of America, ranging north to Canada and south to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.
Black snakes live mainly in dry, sunny areas with hiding places. They prefer this open woodland, fallow fields and meadows, hedges and thickets. For the area around the Great Lakes, it was found that the animals occupy areas that vary from about one to 20 acres..
In 1995, the Black Snake ( Northern Black Racer ) by the Ohio General Assembly was declared the official state reptile of the U.S. state of Ohio. The reason it said:
" " The black racer snake what ADOPTED Because it is native to all 88 Ohio counties and is called the ' farmer's friend' Because it eats disease -carrying rodents. " "
" The Black Adder was chosen because it occurs in all 88 counties of Ohio and because they are considered " the farmer friend " is because they eat disease-carrying rodents. "
Way of life
Black Snakes keep in the cold months in hiding places where they are protected from frost.
Subspecies
The black snake is in their area of distribution in several subspecies:
- Coluber constrictor anthicus ( Cope, 1862)
- Coluber constrictor constrictor (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Coluber constrictor etheridgei (Wilson, 1970)
- Coluber constrictor flaviventris (Say, 1823)
- Coluber constrictor foxii ( Baird & Girard, 1853)
- Coluber constrictor helvigularis ( Auffenberg, 1955)
- Coluber constrictor latrunculus (Wilson, 1970)
- Coluber constrictor oaxaca (Jan, 1863)
- Coluber constrictor paludicola ( Auffenberg & Babbitt, 1955)