Midwestern worm snake
{{Short description|Subspecies of snake}}
{{subspeciesbox
| name = Midwestern worm snake
| image = Midwestern worm snake.jpg
| image_caption =
| status = T5
| status_system = TNC
| genus = Carphophis
| species = amoenus
| subspecies = helenae
| authority = Kennicott, 1859"Carphophis amoenus helenae ". ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). www.itis.gov.
| synonyms = *Celuta helenae
{{small|Kennicott, 1859}}
- Carphophis amoena var. Helenae
{{small|— Jan, 1865}} - Carphophis amoena helenae
{{small|— Conant, 1938}} - Carphophis amoenus helenae
{{small|— Conant & Collins, 1991}}
| synonyms_ref ={{EMBL species|genus=Carphophis|species=amoenus}} www.reptile-database.org.
}}
The midwestern worm snake, Carphophis amoenus helenae, a subspecies of C. amoenus, is a nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The subspecies is endemic to the Midwest and Southern United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/midwestwormsnake/tabid/6686/Default.aspx |title=Midwestern Wormsnake |work=ODNR Division of Wildlife |publisher=Ohio Department of Natural Resources |accessdate=June 7, 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/watchable-wildlife/what/Reptiles/Snakes/ |title=Snakes in Alabama |work=Outdoor Alabama |publisher=Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |accessdate=June 6, 2012 |archive-date=May 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527200626/http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/watchable-wildlife/what/Reptiles/Snakes/ |url-status=dead }}
Etymology
The subspecific name, helenae, is in honor of "Miss Helen Tennison", a misspelling of the name of Robert Kennicott's cousin Helen L. Teunisson. Tenuisson collected specimens for and with Kennicott in Mississippi.{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Helen L Teunisson |url=https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L5R1-QF3 |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=www.familysearch.org}}Beltz, Ellin (2006). Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America – Explained. http://ebeltz.net/herps/biogappx.html.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Helen T.", p. 120.)
Common names
Additional common names for C. a. helenae include central twig snake, central worm snake, ground snake, Helen's snake, Helen Tennison's snake, Helen's worm snake, red snake, and worm snake.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. (in two volumes)., 305 figures, 70 maps. (Carphophis amoenus helenae, pp. 108-110, Figure 34 + Map 12 on p. 105).
Geographic range
The subspecies C. a. helenae ranges from southern Ohio to northern Georgia in the east and from southern Illinois to eastern Louisiana in the west.Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. {{ISBN|0-395-19979-4}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-395-19977-8}} (paperback). (Carphophis amoenus helenae, p. 175 + Map 131).
Description
When adult, C. a. helenae is small and wormlike, rarely growing longer than {{convert|9.8|in|cm|abbr=on}} in total length (including tail). It is plain dark brown on top and light pink on its underside.
The scalation on the anterior dorsal surface of the head is distinctive. Instead of having a pair of internasals and a pair of prefrontals, as are found in most snakes including other subspecies of C. amoenus, the midwestern worm snake has each internasal fused with its corresponding prefrontal. As a result, in the space between the rostral and the frontal, C. a. helenae has two large head shields, one on the left and one on the right, instead of the usual four smaller shields.
Behavior, diet, and habitat
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp., 657 plates. {{ISBN|0-394-50824-6}}. (Carphophis amoenus helenae, p. 592).
- Conant R, Bridges W (1939). What Snake Is That? A Field Guide to the 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 + viii + 163 pp. + Plates A-C, 1-32. (Carphophis amoena helenae, p. 31 + Plate 2, figure 5A).
- Kennicott R (1859). "Notes on Coluber calligaster of Say, and a description of new species of Serpents in the collection of the North Western University of Evanston, Ill[inois]". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia [11]: 98-100. (Celuta helenæ, new species, p. 100).
- 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. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. {{ISBN|978-0-544-12997-9}}. (Carphophis amoenus helenae, pp. 401-402, Figure 186).
- Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Carphophis amoena helenae, pp. 102-103).
- 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). (Carphophis amoenus helenae, p. 162).
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5045810}}