Pantherophis ramspotti
—
Western Foxsnake
This species was split from the Eastern Foxsnake (Pantherophis vulpinus) in 2011 by Crother et al.
My trip to western Missouri and a little bit of eastern Kansas was diverted up to Iowa because my friend Matt Cage really wanted to see his first foxsnake. Fortunately for us, Iowa locals Jim and Laura Scharosch knew right where to look, and Matt found this one at the first location we checked.
This one that we found under a board later in the day was significantly more colorful and significantly larger than the one we had found earlier. It also had some old healed injury to the right side of its face that left its head a little weirdly shaped.
Online references:
- Pantherophis ramspotti account on The Reptile Database
Printed references:
- Conant, R., Collins, J. T. 1998. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Third Edition, expanded
- Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, Eighth Edition
- Ernst, C. H., Ernst, E. M. 2003. Snakes of the United States and Canada