Storeria

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}} {{Hatnote|"Red Belly Snake" redirects here. It is not to be confused with the :red-bellied black snake.}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Storeria dekayi texana.jpg | image_caption = Texas brown snake, ''Storeria dekayi texana'' | taxon = Storeria | authority = Baird & Girard, 1853 | synonyms = ''Coluber, Ischnognathe, Ischnognathus, Tropidonotus'' | synonyms_ref = <ref>Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in two volumes). (Genus ''Storeria'', pp. 696-697).</ref> }} thumb|North American brown snake [[File:Brown Snake in Clarksville Tennessee 2013.jpg|thumbnail|A brown snake in Clarksville, Tennessee]]

'''''Storeria''''' is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to North America and Central America. The genus consists of five species, four of which are known as '''brown snakes''', and one of which is known as the '''redbelly snake'''. These snakes, which are non-venomous, are not to be confused with highly venomous Australian brown snakes from the genus ''Pseudonaja''.

==Geographic range== Species in the genus ''Storeria'' are found in the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada and range south through Mexico and northern Central America.<ref name=CAAR>{{cite journal|last=Ernst|first=Carl H.|title=''Storeria ''|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogue-american-amphibians-and-reptiles-900-001-014|journal=Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles|year=2012|issue=900|pages=900.1–900.14}}</ref>

==Etymology== The genus is named in honor of American physician and naturalist David Humphreys Storer (1804–1891).<ref name=CAAR/><ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Genus ''Storeria'', p. 255).</ref>

==Description== As their common names imply, most snakes of the genus ''Storeria'' are a variant of brown in color. The brown can vary depending on locale, to be almost a brick red in color, to nearly black. They sometimes have a lighter-colored stripe down the center of the back, and small black blotches along the body, and just behind the head. The underside is usually lighter brown-colored, yellow, or in the case of the redbelly snake, reddish in color. They rarely grow beyond {{convert|13|in|cm|abbr=on}} in total length (including tail). One of the best means of identification is by scalation. The dorsal scales are keeled, the head has no loreal scale, and the postnasal scale touches the preocular scale. So, only two scales are between the nasal opening and the eye. Sexually mature males will reach a SVL of 118 mm and females will reach 126 mm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Semlitsch |first1=Raymond D. |last2=Moran |first2=Gary B. |date=January 1984 |title=Ecology of the Redbelly Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) Using Mesic Habitats in South Carolina |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2425539 |journal=American Midland Naturalist |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=33 |doi=10.2307/2425539 |jstor=2425539 |issn=0003-0031|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Ecology== Within their ranges, brown snakes are a very commonly found species of snake. They are most frequently found under leaf litter or debris piles, and are sometimes turned up during gardening. They will also be found under rocks, along riversides, and ravines. They are a species that tends to stay near moist environments that have high amounts of earthworm beds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McAllister |first1=Chris T. |last2=Seville |first2=R. Scott |last3=Connior |first3=Matthew B. |date=January 2016 |title=A new coccidian (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), from midland brown snake, Storeria dekayi wrightorum Trapido (Ophidia: Colubridae) from Arkansas, USA |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11230-015-9606-8 |journal=Systematic Parasitology |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=77–82 |doi=10.1007/s11230-015-9606-8 |pmid=26739289 |pmc=4754964 |issn=0165-5752}}</ref> They consume a variety of invertebrate prey, including earthworms, snails and slugs. Their only means of defense are flattening of the body and excretion from the anal scent glands.<ref>Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus ''Storeria'', pp. 227-230).</ref><ref>Conant R (1975). ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. {{ISBN|0-395-19979-4}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-395-19977-8}} (paperback). (Genus ''Storeria'', p. 153).</ref> Brown snakes give birth to live young.<ref name=CAAR/>

==Species and subspecies== *''Storeria dekayi'' (Holbrook, 1836) – brown snake **''Storeria dekayi anomala'' Dugès, 1888 **''Storeria dekayi dekayi'' (Holbrook, 1836) – northern brown snake **''Storeria dekayi limnetes'' Anderson, 1961 – marsh brown snake **''Storeria dekayi temporalineata'' Trapido, 1944 **''Storeria dekayi texana'' Trapido, 1944 – Texas brown snake **''Storeria dekayi tropica'' Cope, 1885 **''Storeria dekayi wrightorum'' Trapido, 1944 – midland brown snake *''Storeria hidalgoensis'' Taylor, 1942 – Mexican yellowbelly brown snake *''Storeria occipitomaculata'' (Storer, 1839) – redbelly snake **''Storeria occipitomaculata obscura'' Trapido, 1944 – Florida redbelly snake **''Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata'' (Storer, 1839) – northern redbelly snake **''Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae'' H.M. Smith, 1963 – Black Hills redbelly snake *''Storeria storerioides'' (Cope, 1866) – Mexican brown snake *''Storeria victa'' O.P. Hay, 1892 – Florida brown snake

''Nota bene'': A binomial authority or trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Storeria''.

==Gallery== <gallery> Image:BrownSnake_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake1_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake2_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake3_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnake4_BrandonDempster.jpg Image:BrownSnakeSM BrandonDempster.JPG </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *Baird SF, Girard C (1853). ''Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents.'' Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. xvi + 172 pp. (''Storeria'', new genus, p. 135). *Powell R, Conant R, Collins JT (2016). ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Fourth Edition''. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. xiv + 494 pp., 47 plates, 207 figures. {{ISBN|978-0-544-12997-9}}. (Genus ''Storeria'', p. 423, Figure 192).

==External links== *[http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/stodek.htm Brown Snake (''Storeria dekayi'' )] Species account from the Savanna River Ecology Laboratory Herpetology Program (University of Georgia). Accessed April 6, 2014. *{{EMBL genus|genus=Storeria}} *[http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=26 Brown Snake - ''Storeria dekayi''] Species account from the Iowa Reptile and Amphibian Field Guide.

Category:Storeria Category:Extant Pleistocene first appearances Category:Snake genera Category:Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard Category:Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird