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Common names: black rat snake, pilot black snake, black snake.[1] Image File history File links Elaphe_obsoleta_fg01. ...
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ...
Digimon, the only known animals. ...
Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ...
Classes and Clades See below Male and female Superb Fairy-wren Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata (within the phylum Chordata), specifically, those chordates with backbones or spinal columns. ...
Subclasses Anapsida Diapsida Synonyms Reptilia Laurenti, 1768 Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class Sauropsida. ...
Suborders Lacertilia- Lizards Serpentes - Snakes Amphisbaenia - Worm lizards This article is about the Squamata order of reptiles. ...
Families Acrochordidae Aniliidae Anomalepididae Anomochilidae Atractaspididae Boidae Bolyeriidae Colubridae Cylindrophiidae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Typhlopidae Uropeltidae Viperidae Xenopeltidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ...
Genera According to ITIS: Adelophis Adelphicos Alsophis Amastridium Arizona Arrhyton Atractus Bogertophis Boiga Carphophis Cemophora Cerberus Chersodromus Chilomeniscus Chionactis Clelia Clonophis Coluber Coniophanes Conophis Conopsis Contia Cryophis Dendrelaphis Dendrophidion Diadophis Dipsas Dryadophis Drymarchon Drymobius Elaphe Enulius Eridiphas Erythrolamprus Farancia Ficimia Geagras Geophis Gyalopion Heterodon Hypsiglena Imantodes Lampropeltis Leptodeira Leptophis Liochlorophis...
Rat snakes are a large, polyphyletic, group of snakes from the Colubrid subfamily Colubrinae. ...
In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ...
Thomas Say. ...
1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Elaphe obsoleta is a non-venomous colubrid species found in North America. It prefers heavily wooded areas and they are known for having excellent climbing ability, including the ability to climb the trunk of large mature trees without the aid of branches. No subspecies are currently recognized.[2] Subfamilies Boodontinae Calamariinae Colubrinae Dipsadinae Homalopsinae Natricinae Pareatinae Psammophiinae Pseudoxenodontinae Pseudoxyrhophiinae Xenodermatinae Xenodontinae See text for genera. ...
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ...
World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...
Description
This species is a constrictor, meaning it suffocates its prey, coiling around small animals and tightening its grip until they can no longer draw breath, before eating them. (The process of constriction.) Though they do consume mice and rats, the Black Rat Snakes also willingly consume chipmunks, squirrels, birds, and bird eggs. In captivity, they have a reputation for being "vacuum cleaners," and will eat almost anything placed in front of them. Constrictor was the 1986 effort of Alice Cooper. ...
Prey can refer to: Look up Prey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A prey animal eaten by a predator in an act called predation. ...
Constriction is a method used by various snake species to kill their prey. ...
Adults can become quite large and are known to reach up to eight (8) feet, being the largest snake found in Canada. The record length for a Black Rat Snake is 101 inches, making it (officially) the largest snake in North America. Unofficially, Indigo Snakes are known to exceed them, and one wild caught Pine Snake with a portion of its tail missing measured 111 inches. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...
The Indigo snake is the largest colubrid in the United States. ...
When spotted by humans, Black Rat Snakes may freeze and wrinkle themselves into a series of kinks. Black Rat Snakes are usually non-aggressive, but will often strike at the hand of anyone who tries to capture them. They are non-venomous, but can inflict a fairly painful bite.
Taxonomic issues There are recent proposed, but not universally accepted, taxonomic changes for this species and the other North American members of Elaphe (suggested Pantherophis). Some taxonomists have suggested splitting what is now Elaphe obsoleta (suggested P. obsoletus) into three geographically separate species: Under this scheme, the color variations (Black Rat Snake, Yellow Rat Snake, Grey Rat Snake) do not correspond to subspecies. The color phases are considered to be a clinal variation in pigmentation with latitude or other climatic factors. The Allegheny Mountain Range (also spelled Alleghany and Allegany) -- informally, the Alleghenies -- is part of the Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States. ...
View of the Apalachicola River near Fort Gadsden, Florida. ...
The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest named river in North America, with a length of 2320 miles (3733 km) from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. ...
The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest named river in North America, with a length of 2320 miles (3733 km) from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. ...
Trinomial name Elaphe obsoleta spiloides A Grey Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta spiloides) is a species of rat snake. ...
In population genetics, a cline is a gradual change of a character or feature (phenotype) in a species over a geographical area, often as a result of environmental heterogeneity. ...
It should be noted that while a taxonomic suggestion has been made to change the genus Elaphe to Pantherophis, and this suggestion has been taken up by the web community at large, most herpetologists do not accept the suggestion and Herpetological Review 2003 34(3) rejected the taxonomic change. Several arguments against the change concerns the type of analysis used and the concept of "species" in biology.
- The Russian study that suggested the Old World and New World rat snakes were statistically significantly different was based off of mitochondrial DNA evidence, not nuclear DNA.
- According to the concept of a species that is most commonly used in biology, if two populations can interbreed and produce viable, fertile and ecologically functional offspring, the two populations are the same species. Under this definition hybrids are, by definition, sterile and the product of crossing different species (at least). This genetic compatibility is based on nuclear DNA (nDNA). Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) has nothing to do with compatiblity of genomes and thus the functioning of a group as a single or multiple species.
- Since the mitochondrion is of bacterial origin (its chromosome is a single, circular chromosome like a bacterial chromosome) and lacks much of the proof reading apparatus found in the nucleus, it has a much higher mutation rate than nDNA. As long as the cytochrome system and the ATP generation apparatus still function, mutations in mitochondria can abound with little detriment to the cell. Thus wide diversity in mitochondrial sequences may be found while nDNA sequences may not be nearly as diverse.
- Since, in nature, biological species are most readily recognized by their ability to reproduce with each other, and that is a function of nDNA compatibility, examination of mDNA is useful to determine separation of populations, but not speciation since the mitochondria are not needed for genetic compatibility.
- Since the Russian study used mDNA instead of nDNA no relevance to the reproductive and nuclear genetic relatedness of the genera can be inferred from the data.
These references discuss some of the taxonomic issues. - ITIS--listed as Elaphe obsoleta
- Center for North American Herpetology--discusses taxonomy
- Herpetological Review
- The Texas Rat Snake--from The Cold Blooded News, Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society. This discusses the three proposed species split from E. obsoleta in detail.
- Flickr discussion on Rat Snake taxonomy--accessed April 22, 2006.
Photo gallery Found in Virginia at the beginning of summer 2004. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (821x302, 99 KB)Bold textThis is a picture I took of a Black Rat Snake that was found in Virginia (USA) near the Chesapeak bay at the beginning of summer 2004. ...
| Black Rat Snake, face Image File history File links Taken in a South Carolina backyard, July 14th, 2005 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
| Black Rat Snake kinking, or "crinkling" while stressed. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
| ventral surface Image File history File linksMetadata Pantherophis_obsoletusPCCA20050508-7264B.jpg Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Black Rat Snake Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or...
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Cited references Please note that the ITIS system URL has changed (25 September 2006). ...
November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
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