Mud snake

Quality 0.50 · 0 views · Updated 2 months ago

Species of snake

title: "Mud snake" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["farancia", "reptiles-of-the-united-states", "fauna-of-the-southeastern-united-states", "reptiles-described-in-1836", "semiaquatic-animals", "taxa-named-by-john-edwards-holbrook"] description: "Species of snake" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_snake" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Species of snake ::

| image = Western Mud Snake.jpg | image_caption = Western mud snake (F. a. reinwardtii), in Illinois | image2 = G-Bartolotti E mud-1.jpg | image2_caption = Eastern mud snake (F. a. abacura), Pasco County, Florida | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = | genus = Farancia | species = abacura | authority = (Holbrook, 1836) | range_map = [Farancia abacura distribution.png | synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true|title=List |Coluber abacurus Holbrook, 1836 |Homalopsis reinwardtii Schlegel, 1837 |Helicops abacurus — Holbrook, 1840 |Farancia abacurus — Baird & Girard, 1853 |Calopisma abacurum — A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 |Homolopsis crassa Blyth, 1854 |Hydrops abacurus — Garman, 1883 |Farancia abacura — Boulenger, 1894 | synonyms_ref =

The mud snake (Farancia abacura) is a species of nonvenomous, semiaquatic, colubrid snake endemic to the southeastern United States.

Description

The mud snake usually grows to a total length (including tail) of 40 to 54 inches (1-1.4 m), with the record total length being slightly over 80 inches (2 m).

This species is sexually dimorphic in size. Female adults are larger than males in total length.

The upperside of the mud snake is glossy black. The underside is red and black, and the red extends up the sides to form bars of reddish-pink, although some have a completely black body with slightly lighter black spots instead of the common reddish colors.

The heavy body is cylindrical in cross section, and the short tail has a terminal spine.

The head scalation is distinctive in that there is only one internasal scale, no preocular scale, and one anterior temporal scale. The dorsal scales are smooth, and are arranged in 19 rows at midbody. There are 168–208 ventral scales and 31–55 subcaudal scales. The anal plate is divided.

Farancia abacura is the only species that belongs to the Farancia genus, with two different subspecies within itself.

Subspecies

There are two recognized subspecies of Farancia abacura, including the nominotypical subspecies:

Geographic range

The mud snake is found in the southeastern United States, in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Habitat

F. abacura inhabits the edges of streams and cypress swamps, among dense vegetation or under ground debris, using wet conditions to burrow itself into the mud. It is almost fully aquatic and rarely leaves the water, except to lay eggs, hibernate, or during drought to escape drying wetlands. After heavy rain fall, its home range may increase to take advantage of new food sources. It occupies aquatic habitats with freshwater or brackish waters. For hibernation, they commonly use cavities in soil or old tree stumps.

Behavior

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/PXL_20230426_004206797.jpg" caption="Western mud snake feeding on a [[two-toed amphiuma]]."] ::

The mud snake is mostly aquatic and nocturnal. It preys mostly on giant aquatic salamanders in the genera Siren and Amphiuma, but it also eats other amphibians.

They are known to use their sharply pointed tails to prod prey items, leading to the nickname "stinging snake", although their tail is not a stinger and cannot sting. Enlarged teeth occur at the rear of the upper jaw, which presumably help to hold slippery prey. Upon being disturbed, mud snakes will sometimes tuck their head beneath their coils and expose the red underside on the tail as a warning display.

Reproduction

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/G-Bartolotti_E_mud-2.jpg" caption="Venter"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Mud_Snake.jpg" caption="jstor=1445944}}"] ::

Cultural significance

The mud snake is one of a few animals which may be the origin of the hoop snake myth. J.D. Willson writes: The hoop snake myth has also been attributed to the coachwhip snake.

References

References

  1. Hammerson, G.A.. (2007). "''Farancia abacura''".
  2. [[George Albert Boulenger. Boulenger GA]] (1894). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, Printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (''Farancia abacura'', pp. 291–292).
  3. Missouri Department of Conservation (2013). [http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/western-mud-snake Western Mud Snake] {{webarchive. link. (2011-09-07 MDC Online. Accessed May 18, 2013)
  4. link. (2011-09-29 The University of Georgia: Museum of Natural History. Accessed April 23, 2011.)
  5. (2010). "A New Clutch Size Record for the Mud Snake (Farancia abacura)". Southeastern Naturalist.
  6. [[Hobart Muir Smith. 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. (''Farancia abacura'', pp. 162–163.).
  7. Meade, George P.. (1946). "The Natural History of the Mud Snake". The Scientific Monthly.
  8. Willson JD (2006). [http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/faraba.htm Mud Snake (''Farancia abacura'')] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-09-02 Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Accessed April 23, 2011.)
  9. (2013). "Terrestrial movements of the Red-bellied Mudsnake (''Farancia abacura'') and Rainbow Snake (''F. erytrogramma'')". Herpetological Review.
  10. Willson JD, Winne CT, Dorcas ME, [[J. Whitfield Gibbons. (2006). "Post-drought responses of semi-aquatic snakes inhabiting an isolated wetland: insights on different strategies for persistence in a dynamic habitat". Wetlands.
  11. Plummer, M.V., O'Neal, C.S., Cooper, S.M. et al. Leave or Die: Dispersal of Red-Bellied Mudsnakes (Farancia abacura) from their Home Ranges in an Isolated Wetland. Wetlands 40, 2489–2498 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01362-w
  12. Snyder, Richard C.. (1945-10-15). "Notes on the Snakes of Southeastern Alabama". Copeia.
  13. (2013). "Habitat influences diet overlap in aquatic snake assemblages". Journal of Zoology (London).
  14. "Virginia Herpetological Society".
  15. Meade, George P. "Breeding Habits of Farancia Abacura in Captivity." ''Copeia'', vol. 1937, no. 1, pp. 12–15. ''JSTOR'', {{doi. 10.2307/1437364.
  16. (2010). "A new clutch size record for the Mud Snake (''Farancia abacura'')". Southeastern Naturalist.
  17. (1993). "Reproduction and behavior of western mud snakes (''Farancia abacura reinwardtii'' ) in American alligator nests". Copeia.
  18. Riemer, William J. "The Snake Farancia Abacura: An Attended Nest." ''Herpetologica'', vol. 13, no. 1, 1957, pp. 31–32. ''JSTOR'', {{JSTOR. 3890149.
  19. [[:fr:Coleman Jett Goin. Goin CJ]], Goin OB, [[:de:George Robert Zug. Zug GR]] (1978). ''Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition''. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. xi + 378 pp. {{ISBN. 0-7167-0020-4. ("Parental Care", ''Farancia abacura'', p. 121).
  20. (1988). "Annual emergence of juvenile mud snakes (''Farancia abacura'') at aquatic habitats". Copeia.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

faranciareptiles-of-the-united-statesfauna-of-the-southeastern-united-statesreptiles-described-in-1836semiaquatic-animalstaxa-named-by-john-edwards-holbrook