Critter Catalog

What do they look like?

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range length

  75 to 178 cm

  29.53 to 70.08 in

Where do they live?

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

What kind of habitat do they need?

• These animals are found in the following types of habitat
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• savanna or grassland
• chaparral
• forest
• scrub forest

• Range elevation

  0 to 2,200 m

  0.00 to ft

How do they grow?

• Development - Life Cycle
• indeterminate growth

How do they reproduce?

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• fertilization
• oviparous

• How often does reproduction occur?

  Glossy snakes breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Glossy snakes breed in the spring and summer.

• Range number of offspring

  3 to 23

• Average number of offspring

  8

• Parental Investment
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • female

How long do they live?

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 to 25 years

How do they behave?

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• fossorial
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• sedentary
• hibernation
• aestivation
• daily torpor
• solitary

Home Range

How do they communicate with each other?

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• vibrations
• chemical

What do they eat?

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• reptiles

What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten?

• These animal colors help protect them
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • Owls
  • Mammals
  • Snakes

What roles do they have in the ecosystem?

• Ecosystem Impact
• soil aeration

Do they cause problems?

There are no known adverse effects of these snakes on humans. (Feller, 1996; Hammerson, et al., 2007)

How do they interact with us?

Glossy snakes eat rodents and lizards, therefore controlling potential pest populations. (Hammerson, et al., 2007; Rodriguez-Robles, et al., 1999)

• Ways that people benefit from these animals:
• controls pest population

Are they endangered?

Though currently not considered threatened, some populations of glossy snakes have been progressively reduced due to agricultural development and urbanization. No conservation plans have been developed to maintain populations due to this species' stable distribution, number of sub-populations, and population sizes. However, some populations are protected as they live national and state parks. ("Arizona Elegans", 2012; "U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service", 2012; Hammerson, et al., 2007)

• IUCN Red List

  Lower Risk - Least Concern

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Some more information...

It has been suggested that this species includes a subspecies, Arizona elegans occidentalis. (Hammerson, et al., 2007)

Contributors

Kristen Batko (author), The College of New Jersey, Matthew Wund (editor), The College of New Jersey, Catherine Kent (editor), Special Projects, Jeremy Wright (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

2012. "Arizona Elegans" (On-line). CITES. Accessed November 12, 2012 at http://www.cites.org/eng/results.php?cites=arizona+elegans.

NatureServe. 2012. "Arizona elegans (Kennicott, 1859): Glossy Snake" (On-line). Nature Serve Explorer. Accessed February 23, 2013 at http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Arizona+elegans.

2012. "Arizona elegans: Glossy Snake" (On-line). Encyclopedia of Life. Accessed February 23, 2013 at http://eol.org/pages/1057093/overview.

2012. "U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service" (On-line). Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans). Accessed October 25, 2012 at http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=C06I.

Aldridge, R. 1979. Female Reproductive Cycles of the Snakes Arizona elegans and Crotalus viridus. Herpetologica, 35, 3: 256-261. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3891696?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101263071371.

Aldridge, R. 1979. Seasonal spermatogenesis in sympatric Crotalus viridus and Arizona elegans in New Mexico. Herpetologica, 13, 2: 187-192. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1563927?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101263071371.

Dixon, J. 1959. Geographic variation and distribution of the long-tailed group of the glossy snake, Arizona elegans Kennicott. The Southwestern Naturalist, 4, 1: 20-29. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3669526?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101263071371.

Ezaz, T., R. Stiglec, F. Veyrunes, J. Graves. 2006. Relationships between vertebrate ZW and XY sex chromosome systems. Current Biology, 16: R736-R743. Accessed February 23, 2013 at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6840057_Relationships_between_vertebrate_ZW_and_XY_sex_chromosome_systems.

Feller, W. 1996. "Digital Desert" (On-line). Accessed October 30, 2012 at http://digital-desert.com/wildlife/snakes/glossy-snake.html.

Goldberg, S., C. Bursey. 2001. Helminths of six species of colubrid snakes from southern California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 100/2: 109-116. Accessed February 23, 2013 at http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Bulletin-Southern-California-Academy-Sciences/78974793.html.

Hammerson, G., D. Frost, G. Santos-Barrera, J. Vasquez Diaz, G. Quintero Diaz. 2007. "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" (On-line). Arizona elegans. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/63734/0.

Luiselli, L. 2006. Resource partitioning and interspecific competition in snakes: the search for general geographical and guild patterns. Oikos, 114, 2: 193-211. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14064.x/abstract.

Matsubara, K., H. Tarui, M. Toriba, K. Yamada, C. Nishida-Umehara, K. Agata, Y. Matsuda. 2006. Evidence for different origin of sex chromosomes in snakes, birds, and mammals and step-wise differentiation of snake sex chromosomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103: 18190-18195. Accessed November 12, 2012 at http://www.pnas.org/content/103/48/18190.full.pdf.

Mendelson III, J., W. Jennings. 1992. Shifts in the Relative Abundance of Snakes in a Desert Grassland. Journal of Herpetology, 26, 1: 38-45. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1565019?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101263071371.

Perry, L. 2004. "How Snakes Work" (On-line). How Stuff Works. Accessed November 12, 2012 at http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/reptiles-amphibians/snake.htm.

Rodriguez-Robles, J., C. Bell, H. Greene. 1999. Food Habits of the Glossy Snake, Arizona elegans, with Comparisons to the Diet of Sympatric Long-nosed Snakes, Rhinocheilus lecontei. Herpetologica, 33, 1: 87-92. Accessed October 13, 2012 at http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1565546?uid=3739808&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101263071371.