Bulletin (1961) (20419619382) - Public domain zoological illustration

Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin2819611963illi (find matches)

Year: 1918 (1910s)

Authors: Illinois. Natural History Survey Division

Subjects: Natural history; Natural history

Publisher: Urbana, State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Natural History Survey Division

Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Text Appearing Before Image:

November, 1961 Smith: Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois 201

Text Appearing After Image:

Fig. 192.—A juvenile Elaphc guttata emoryi from Reynolds County, Missouri. The ground- color is gray or light tan; the blotches are red-brown to brownish black. Habits.—The Great Plains rat snake, al- though more terrestrial in habits than most other members of the genus, has considera- ble ability in climbing. Its food consists of birds and mammals, which it kills by con- striction. Wild individuals vibrate their tails and strike, but captives are slow and even- tempered. The species is oviparous. Little else is known of its life history. Illinois Distribution.—Four of the speci- mens of this species extant from Illinois have been taken dead on the bluff road be- tween Valmeyer, Monroe County, and Prai- rie du Rocher, Randolph County. This road is bordered on one side by the heavily farmed Mississippi floodplain, on the other by dry, precipitous rock bluffs. Two other speci- mens have been taken on the forested cam- pus of Principia College near Elsah. NelU (1951i?>) reported having seen a specimen near East St. Louis, St. Clair County. Ad- j ditional specimens may turn up in other I Lower Mississippi Border counties, but it is I unlikely that this western subspecies will be I found elsewhere east of the Mississippi River, fig. 193. The ranges of Elaphe guttata guttata and E. g. emoryi do not meet, even though the two forms are currently regarded as sub- species of a single species. The old published records for guttata in the Wabash Border counties are almost certainly based on mis- identified specimens of the superficially simi- lar Larnpropcltis calligaster, as has been sug- gested in the list of deleted species. The kin- ship of guttata and emoryi assumes that in- tergradation occurred formerly but that the intergrade populations have since disap- peared. The morphological relationship of these two subspecies, or incipient species, is obvious. The distributional relationships of emoryi focuses attention on another species of rat snake, E. vulpina, with similar habits and habitat requirements. These two species have more or less geographically complemen- tary ranges in western Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. In fact, both are known in the same Illinois county (Jersey) from localities that are scarcely 15 miles apart. Although undocumented by specimens, published records for the following localities are believed valid and are indicated on the distribution map by hollow symbols: Madi-

illinois natural history survey bulletin 1961 63 pantherophis guttatus book illustrations ornithology birds zoological illustration natural history animals mammals amphibians images from internet archive missouri st louis

1961

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