Range in California: Green
Red: California Striped Racer
iPhone App
Electronic Field Guide to the
Reptiles and Amphibians of
Southern California
Available Now at the
iTunes App Store. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Adult, Contra Costa County |
|
 |
|
 |
Adult, Contra Costa County
|
Adult, Alameda County, showing the orange color suffusion under the chin . © Karen Swaim. |
Adult, Contra Costa County, showing the side stripe consisting of one full plus two half scales. © Karen Swaim. |
 |
 |
|
|
Adult, Contra Costa County |
|
|
|
Fig. 1 |
Fig. 2 |
|
| I was hiking up a mountain trail (Fig.1 above) one summer morning, watching a California Whiptail scurry up the trail a few yards ahead of me, when I saw the lizard move off the trail into some dry grass. In an instant the lizard quickly turned around and raced back across the trail into a shrub, kicking up a small cloud of dust. I turned to see an Alameda Striped Racer with its head held high in hunting mode (Fig. 2 above). The snake eyed me standing between itself and the lizard and abandoned its chase, freezing for a few seconds giving me just enough time to pull out a little point and shoot film camera and shoot a picture before the snake turned and crawled into a hole underneath a nearby fallen log. (As luck would have it, my best camera was being repaired.) That was my first Alameda Striped Racer sighting and it was at least a year before I got another opportunity to photograph this very fast and wary snake. |
Habitat |
 |
|
 |
Habitat, East Bay Hills, Contra Costa County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
 |
 |
 |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
Habitat, Contra Costa County |
|
|
|
 |
Signs, Contra Costa County
|
|
Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults are generally 3 - 4 feet long (91 - 122 cm) and ocassionally reach 5 ft. (152cm.) Hatchlings are about 13 inches long (33 cm.) |
| Appearance |
A long thin body and tail, a broad elongated head, large eyes, a slender neck, and smooth scales. Dark brown to black with a wide solid yellow- orange stripe on each side extending from the back of the eye to or beyond the vent. The stripes are "broad, 1 and 2 half-scale rows wide."(Stebbins) The underside is cream tapering to orange or pink toward the tail.
The Alameda Striped Racer subspecies differs from the more widespread California Striped Racer supspecies in having wider side stripes with more orange coloring, a darker black back, no distinct spotting under the head and neck, no dark line across the scale at the end of the nose, and an uninterrupted light stripe from the nose to the eye.
(The lack of a third stripe down the middle of the back can help distinguish this species from several sympatric gartersnake species.)
|
| Behavior |
| Dirunal, often seen actively foraging in the daytime with head and forward part of the body held up off the ground searching for prey with its acute vision. Climbs vegetation and seeks shelter in burrows, rocks, or woody debris. Very fast-moving and alert, quickly fleeing when threatened, this snake is difficult to get close to. Like most Masticophis this snake will strike repeatedly and bite viciously when threatened or handled. |
| Diet |
| Eats lizards, small rodents, small birds, frogs, salamanders, small snakes. Juveniles will consume large insects. |
| Reproduction |
| Lays eggs in late spring or early summer which hatch in two to three months. |
| Range |
This subspecies, Coluber lateralis euryxanthus - Alameda Striped Racer, is endemic to California. It occurs only in a small area on the east side of the San Francisco Bay in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, and parts of San Joaquin and Santa Clara Counties.
According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Endangered Species Protection Program description of the subspecies, it is likely that the range of this subspecies has always been very restricted and limited by the extent of the East Bay coastal scrub and oak woodland communities, and that the current range is similar, but is now fragmented into separate populations with little or no contact due to habitat loss. These fragmented populations are: Tilden-Briones, Oakland-Las Trampas, and Mount Diablo-Black Hills populations in Contra Costa County; Hayward-Pleasanton Ridge population in Alameda County; and the Sunol-Cedar Mountain population in Alameda County and into San Joaquin and Santa Clara Counties.
The species Coluber lateralis - Striped Racer, is found only in California and Baja California, Mexico. |
| Habitat |
| Open areas in canyons, rocky hillsides, chaparral scrublands, open woodlands, pond edges, stream courses. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
North American snakes formerly placed in the genus Masticophis have been changed to the genus Coluber based on a 2004 paper * by Nagy et al. Utiger et al. (2005, Russian Journal of Herpetology 12:39-60) supported Nagy et al. and synonymized Masticophis with Coluber. This has not been universally accepted. The most recent SSAR list has hinted that the genus Masticophis might be re-instated: "Burbrink (pers. comm.) has data to reject Nagy et al.’s hypothesis but we await publication of these data before reconsidering the status of Masticophis."
Coluber lateralis is split into two subspecies -
C. l. euryxanthus - Alameda Striped Racer, and
C. l. lateralis - California Striped Racer. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
Protected as a threatened species by the state of California and the Federal government due to its limited range and available habitat. Listed December 5, 1997. Critical Habitat Designated October 2, 2006.
Human development has fragmented this snake's originally continuous range into five populations. Aproximately 60 percent of this snake's habitat is owned by the public. In 1999 the status of this snake was listed as Declining. |
|
|
Taxonomy |
| Family |
Colubridae |
Colubrids |
| Genus |
Coluber |
North American Racers, Coachwhips and Whipsnakes |
| Species |
lateralis |
Striped Racer |
Subspecies
|
euryxanthus |
Alameda Striped Racer |
|
Original Description |
Masticophis lateralis - (Hallowell, 1853) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 237
Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus - (Riemer, 1954) - Copeia, p. 45
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
|
|
Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Coluber - Latin - coluber snake or serpent
lateralis - Latin - of the side - referring to the lateral stripes
euryxanthus - Greek - eurys - broad or wide and xanthos - yellow - referring to lateral striping
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
|
|
Alternate Names |
Alameda Whipsnake
Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus - Alameda Striped Racer
|
|
Related or Similar California Snakes |
C. l. lateralis - California Striped Racer
C. constrictor mormon - Western Yellow-bellied Racer
T. a. zaxanthus - Diablo Range Gartersnake
|
|
More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Center for Bioligical Diversity
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.
Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Snakes of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Thelander, Carl G., editor in chief. Life on the Edge - A Guide to California's Endangered Natural Resources - Wildlife. Berkeley: Bio Systems Books, 1994.
* Z. T. Nagy, Robin Lawson, U. Joger and M. Wink. Molecular systematics of Racers, Whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia: Colubridae) using Mitochondrial and Nuclear Markers. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research (Volume 42 pages 223–233). 2004
|
|
|
|
The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
|
Organization
|
Status Listing
|
| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
FT |
Threatened |
| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
ST |
Threatened |
| California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
None |
|
| Bureau of Land Management |
None |
|
| USDA Forest Service |
None |
|
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4T2 S2 |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
|
None |
|
|
|
