What do you think?
Rate this book
Snakes of the United States and Canada
World-renowned snake expert Carl Ernst and coauthor Evelyn Ernst reveal the unusual lifestyles of these fascinating creatures, describing every known aspect of each of the 131 species found in the United States and Canada. From the venomous rattlers to the docile garter snakes, each species is shown to display a unique set of behaviors and adaptations to its environment.
Much more than simply a field guide, this monumental reference begins with an introduction to snake biology and evolution, which is followed by an identification guide and key to the North American species. The heart of the book is the species accounts which, accompanied by color photographs, provide detailed information on identifying features, geographic variation, known fossils, current distribution, habitat type, behavior, reproduction, growth, diet, and predators. Completing the book is a glossary of terms and a comprehensive reference section. No other book provides as thorough or as reliable coverage.
Much more than simply a field guide, this monumental reference begins with an introduction to snake biology and evolution, which is followed by an identification guide and key to the North American species. The heart of the book is the species accounts which, accompanied by color photographs, provide detailed information on identifying features, geographic variation, known fossils, current distribution, habitat type, behavior, reproduction, growth, diet, and predators. Completing the book is a glossary of terms and a comprehensive reference section. No other book provides as thorough or as reliable coverage.
680 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2003
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 12, 2012
Beginning in 1933 with the publication of Handbook of Frogs and Toads by Albert H and Anna A. Wright, Comstock Press, an imprint of Cornell University, published a series of herpetological field guides for the reptiles and amphibians of the United States and Canada. Handbook of Frogs and Toads was followed by Handbook of Salamanders by Sherman Bishop (1943), Handbook of Lizards by Hobart Smith (1946), Handbook of Turtles by Archie Carr (1952), and the two-volume Handbook of Snakes by Albert H. and Anna A. Wright (1957). These books became immediate classics and went through several editions and printings through the years. They continue to be in print, albeit only in paperback. Unfortunately, these books have not been revised in several decades and with the wealth of new information available, they are, with varying degrees, sadly out of date. Comstock Press is currently working on a project to revise and re-release these classics texts as written by current experts in the field. However, the date of publication of the first of these volumes is still a couple of years away.
Meanwhile, beginning in 1994 with the publication of Turtles of the United States and Canada by Carl H. Ernst, Jeffrey E. Lovich, and the late Roger W. Barbour, Smithsonian Books is filling in this missing gap. The second in the series was Salamanders of the United States and Canada by James W. Petranka (1998). This summer, the third volume of the series was released, Snakes of the United States and Canada by Carl H. Ernst and Evelyn M. Ernst. The highlights of this series include range maps, color photos of each species and full descriptions of each species. These descriptions highlight the current information on morphology, reproduction, growth rates, diets and predators.
In the current volume, a massive tome of nearly 700 pages, each of the 131species of snakes found in the United States and Canada is given its due. For each species, the accounts are divided into the following parts, with the available current information: Recognition, Geographic Variation, Confusing Species, Karyotype, Fossil Record, Distribution, Habitat, Behavior, Reproduction, Growth and Longevity, Diet and Feeding Habits, Predation and Defense, Populations, and Remarks. Along with each species account is a color photograph of the species and a range map. As a random example, let’s review the lined snake (Tropidoclonion lineatum). This is a species native to Missouri. The description of the snake in the book, somewhat edited and annotated by me, is:
“RECOGNITION: This slender snake reaches a maximum TBL (total body length)
of 57.2 cm (approximately 22.5 inches), but most individuals are shorter than 48 cm
(approximately 18 inches). The body is gray brown to olive brown with a grayish
white to cream, yellow, or orange vertebral stripe, and a similarly colored lateral
stripe on the dorsal scale rows two and three on each side. The vertebral stripe is
bordered on each side by a row of dark spots, and another row of dark spots lies
dorsal to the lateral stripes. The small head is scarcely broader than the neck and
body, and is gray to olive or brown with the scales behind the orbits heavily marked
with black spots. The venter is pale green to yellowish green and has two rows of
dark brown or black half-moon-shaped marks that begin as a single row on the
throat…
GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION: Currently, no subspecies are recognized….
CONFUSING SPECIES: The garter and ribbon snakes (Thamnophis) usually lack
dark ventral spots, which, if present, are never half-moon shaped.
KARYOTYPE: Undescribed.
FOSSIL RECORD: Pleistocene fossils are known from Irvingtonian deposits in
Texas…, and Rancholabrean deposits in Kansas… and Texas.
DISTRIBUTION: The main range of T. lineatum extends from southeastern South
Dakota south to the Gulf Coast of Texas, but it is also found in scattered populations
in northern and central Illinois, southeastern Iowa, east-central Missouri, eastern
Colorado, and New Mexico.
HABITAT: …It requires a relatively moist habitat, and often lives around springs,
ponds, marsh borders, and the banks of brooks and streams. Presently, it is found in
grasslands, oak woods with scattered trees, or even in suburbs, parks, gardens,
cemeteries, and inner city lots and trash heaps. In such places, it hides under leaves,
piles of vegetation, animal dung, rocks, logs, boards, or other debris, and even within
cast-iron boxes housing utility meters.
BEHAVIOR: T. lineatum is active from late February or March to November or
possibly early December in the south, but over most of its range the annual activity
period extends from April to late September or October.
Apparently, everywhere it spends some time dormant in the winter….
The lined snake is secretive and semifossorial. Days are spent under cover;
foraging is crepuscular (during twilight) in the spring and fall, but nocturnal during
the summer. A few may be diurnally active, especially on cool days, and may even
bask in the morning.
REPRODUCTION: Maturity occurs early in this small snake…most males mature in
8-12 months. Females mature in 19-24 months.
Copulations have been observed in September and early October, but courtship
behavior has not been described….The number of young per litter is significantly
correlated to female SVL (snout-vent length).
The GP (gestation period) lasts at least 10 months, and the young were born in
August and occasionally in early September. Litters contain 2-17 (mean, 7.6; n-31)
young.
GROWTH AND LONGEVITY: Blanchard and Force thought that the smallest
young collected in early May were those born the previous August and that they had
grown about 5 cm in their first 3.5 active months. Both sexes grew at a rate of about
1.4 cm/month. Longevity has not been reported.
DIET AND FEEDING HABITS: T. lineatum is almost exclusively a worm eater, but
rarely, sowbugs and soft-bodied insects and insect larvae are eaten.
Most hunting is done at night or after rains when earthworms are most often on
the surface. Prey is primarily found by olfaction and taste, but sight may also play a
role. Pregnant females usually feed only sparingly, if at all.
PREDATORS AND DEFENSE: Almost any larger carnivorous vertebrate is a
potential predator of this snake. Known predators include snakes and the loggerhead
shrike.
Tropidoclonion seldom, if ever, bites, but if severely provoked it may flatten its
head and body, coil, and strike. It almost always voids musk, and sometimes feces,
when handled. Its striped pattern may confuse a predator in regard to the crawling
speed of the snake.
POPULATIONS: T. lineatum gives the false impression of being rare, but this is
because of its secretive and nocturnal behavior. No thorough study of its population
dynamics has been conducted, and reported data are from Kansas and are
fragmentary.
T. lineatum is considered threatened in South Dakota.
REMARKS: Tropidoclonion is a member of the natricine complex of North
American snakes and is most closely related to Thamnophis (garter snakes) and
Nerodia (water snakes) (441-444).”
The text is accompanied by a very nice photograph and range map of the lined snake. My main comment here is that the double row of half-moon shapes on the pale venter is a very distinctive feature and it would have been nice to see that feature illustrated. There is a very good picture of this feature in The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri (Second Edition) by Tom R. Johnson on p. 327. The only one I’ve actually seen in the wild was in the spring of 2003 at the Valley View Conservation Area south of St. Louis. It was found under a rock in a glade. The climate was mild to warm with the skies clear. This venter pattern is quite clear.
Anyway, the above species account should give the reader a good sense of what this contains. Obviously, there is more information known about some species, and therefore, to no surprise, there is more text taken up by their descriptions. The book also contains an extensive bibliography for persons interested in further research and exploration. This book, along with the two previous ones, is destined to become a modern classic in herpetology. Although it carries a hefty price tag, I think the book is well worth it to anyone who has an interest and fascination with North American snakes. I highly recommend the book.
Meanwhile, beginning in 1994 with the publication of Turtles of the United States and Canada by Carl H. Ernst, Jeffrey E. Lovich, and the late Roger W. Barbour, Smithsonian Books is filling in this missing gap. The second in the series was Salamanders of the United States and Canada by James W. Petranka (1998). This summer, the third volume of the series was released, Snakes of the United States and Canada by Carl H. Ernst and Evelyn M. Ernst. The highlights of this series include range maps, color photos of each species and full descriptions of each species. These descriptions highlight the current information on morphology, reproduction, growth rates, diets and predators.
In the current volume, a massive tome of nearly 700 pages, each of the 131species of snakes found in the United States and Canada is given its due. For each species, the accounts are divided into the following parts, with the available current information: Recognition, Geographic Variation, Confusing Species, Karyotype, Fossil Record, Distribution, Habitat, Behavior, Reproduction, Growth and Longevity, Diet and Feeding Habits, Predation and Defense, Populations, and Remarks. Along with each species account is a color photograph of the species and a range map. As a random example, let’s review the lined snake (Tropidoclonion lineatum). This is a species native to Missouri. The description of the snake in the book, somewhat edited and annotated by me, is:
“RECOGNITION: This slender snake reaches a maximum TBL (total body length)
of 57.2 cm (approximately 22.5 inches), but most individuals are shorter than 48 cm
(approximately 18 inches). The body is gray brown to olive brown with a grayish
white to cream, yellow, or orange vertebral stripe, and a similarly colored lateral
stripe on the dorsal scale rows two and three on each side. The vertebral stripe is
bordered on each side by a row of dark spots, and another row of dark spots lies
dorsal to the lateral stripes. The small head is scarcely broader than the neck and
body, and is gray to olive or brown with the scales behind the orbits heavily marked
with black spots. The venter is pale green to yellowish green and has two rows of
dark brown or black half-moon-shaped marks that begin as a single row on the
throat…
GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION: Currently, no subspecies are recognized….
CONFUSING SPECIES: The garter and ribbon snakes (Thamnophis) usually lack
dark ventral spots, which, if present, are never half-moon shaped.
KARYOTYPE: Undescribed.
FOSSIL RECORD: Pleistocene fossils are known from Irvingtonian deposits in
Texas…, and Rancholabrean deposits in Kansas… and Texas.
DISTRIBUTION: The main range of T. lineatum extends from southeastern South
Dakota south to the Gulf Coast of Texas, but it is also found in scattered populations
in northern and central Illinois, southeastern Iowa, east-central Missouri, eastern
Colorado, and New Mexico.
HABITAT: …It requires a relatively moist habitat, and often lives around springs,
ponds, marsh borders, and the banks of brooks and streams. Presently, it is found in
grasslands, oak woods with scattered trees, or even in suburbs, parks, gardens,
cemeteries, and inner city lots and trash heaps. In such places, it hides under leaves,
piles of vegetation, animal dung, rocks, logs, boards, or other debris, and even within
cast-iron boxes housing utility meters.
BEHAVIOR: T. lineatum is active from late February or March to November or
possibly early December in the south, but over most of its range the annual activity
period extends from April to late September or October.
Apparently, everywhere it spends some time dormant in the winter….
The lined snake is secretive and semifossorial. Days are spent under cover;
foraging is crepuscular (during twilight) in the spring and fall, but nocturnal during
the summer. A few may be diurnally active, especially on cool days, and may even
bask in the morning.
REPRODUCTION: Maturity occurs early in this small snake…most males mature in
8-12 months. Females mature in 19-24 months.
Copulations have been observed in September and early October, but courtship
behavior has not been described….The number of young per litter is significantly
correlated to female SVL (snout-vent length).
The GP (gestation period) lasts at least 10 months, and the young were born in
August and occasionally in early September. Litters contain 2-17 (mean, 7.6; n-31)
young.
GROWTH AND LONGEVITY: Blanchard and Force thought that the smallest
young collected in early May were those born the previous August and that they had
grown about 5 cm in their first 3.5 active months. Both sexes grew at a rate of about
1.4 cm/month. Longevity has not been reported.
DIET AND FEEDING HABITS: T. lineatum is almost exclusively a worm eater, but
rarely, sowbugs and soft-bodied insects and insect larvae are eaten.
Most hunting is done at night or after rains when earthworms are most often on
the surface. Prey is primarily found by olfaction and taste, but sight may also play a
role. Pregnant females usually feed only sparingly, if at all.
PREDATORS AND DEFENSE: Almost any larger carnivorous vertebrate is a
potential predator of this snake. Known predators include snakes and the loggerhead
shrike.
Tropidoclonion seldom, if ever, bites, but if severely provoked it may flatten its
head and body, coil, and strike. It almost always voids musk, and sometimes feces,
when handled. Its striped pattern may confuse a predator in regard to the crawling
speed of the snake.
POPULATIONS: T. lineatum gives the false impression of being rare, but this is
because of its secretive and nocturnal behavior. No thorough study of its population
dynamics has been conducted, and reported data are from Kansas and are
fragmentary.
T. lineatum is considered threatened in South Dakota.
REMARKS: Tropidoclonion is a member of the natricine complex of North
American snakes and is most closely related to Thamnophis (garter snakes) and
Nerodia (water snakes) (441-444).”
The text is accompanied by a very nice photograph and range map of the lined snake. My main comment here is that the double row of half-moon shapes on the pale venter is a very distinctive feature and it would have been nice to see that feature illustrated. There is a very good picture of this feature in The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri (Second Edition) by Tom R. Johnson on p. 327. The only one I’ve actually seen in the wild was in the spring of 2003 at the Valley View Conservation Area south of St. Louis. It was found under a rock in a glade. The climate was mild to warm with the skies clear. This venter pattern is quite clear.
Anyway, the above species account should give the reader a good sense of what this contains. Obviously, there is more information known about some species, and therefore, to no surprise, there is more text taken up by their descriptions. The book also contains an extensive bibliography for persons interested in further research and exploration. This book, along with the two previous ones, is destined to become a modern classic in herpetology. Although it carries a hefty price tag, I think the book is well worth it to anyone who has an interest and fascination with North American snakes. I highly recommend the book.
December 3, 2007
This book continues the Smithsonian's North American series of Herpetology (Salamanders and Turtles are the other books in the series). Every species of snake found in North America is represented with photographs and more than enough information for the general herp enthusiast. Not a field guide but an attractive reference that should fill the gaps left by most regional tomes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews