Storeria

Taxobox
name = "Storeria"

---

image_size = 240px
image_caption = Texas Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi texana"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Colubridae
subfamilia = Natricinae
genus = "Storeria"
genus_authority = Baird & Girard, 1853

"Storeria" is a genus of colubrid snakes. The genus consists of four species, three of which are known as brown snakes, and the other is known as the redbelly snake. They are found primarily in the United States and Mexico but range as far north as southern Canada, and as far south as Central America.

Description

As their common name implies, 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. Their underside is usually lighter brown colored, yellow, or in the case of redbelly snakes, reddish in color. They rarely grow beyond 12 inches in length.One of the best means of identification is by its scales. Snakes in the genus Storeria have keeled scales. On the head there is no loreal scale and the postnasal scale touches the preocular scale. So, there are only two scales between the nasal opening and the eye.

Behaviour

Within their range, they 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 consume a variety of invertebrate prey, including, earthworms, snails and slugs.

Species

*Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi"
**"Storeria dekayi anomala" (Dugés, 1888)
**Northern Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi dekayi" (Holbrook, 1836)
**Marsh Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi limnetes" (Anderson, 1961)
**"Storeria dekayi temporalineata" (Trapido, 1944)
**Texas Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi texana" (Trapido, 1944)
**"Storeria dekayi tropica" (Cope, 1885)
**Florida Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi victa" (Hay, 1892)
**Midland Brown Snake, "Storeria dekayi wrightorum" (Trapido, 1944)
*Mexican Yellowbelly Brown Snake, "Storeria hidalgoensis" (Taylor, 1942)
*Redbelly Snake, "Storeria occipitomaculata"
**Florida Redbelly Snake, "Storeria occipitomaculata obscura" (Trapido, 1944)
**Northern Redbelly Snake, "Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata" (Storer, 1839)
**Black Hills Redbelly Snake, "Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae" (Smith, 1963)
*Mexican Brown Snake, "Storeria storerioides" (Cope, 1866)

References

* [http://www.houstonherp.com/TxBrown.htm Houston Herpetological Society: Visual Key to the Snakes of Harris County, Texas]
*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