Arizona Garter Snake

Eutaenia megalops, (Kennicott)

Colouration: Ashen brown, or clay colour, with narrow black lines, or spots on the edges of many of the scales; these spots, however, do not produce the tessellated (checker-board) pattern between the stripes as with most of the succeeding species. The stripe on the back is yellowish or greenish-white, and not so sharply delineated as with the species of the "ribbon snake" group. The stripes on the sides cover portions of the third and fourth rows of scales; they are narrow and of the same colour as the stripe on the back. Above, the head is paler than the body and the upper lip plates (superior labials) are greenish, margined with black.
Dimensions: The measurements are of a specimen captured on Duck Creek, a tributary of the Gila River, by the late Prof. E. D. Cope:
Habits: Like many of the Western garter snakes, this species seems to be semi-aquatic in habits, generally frequenting the borders of streams and taking to the water when alarmed.

The Arizona Garter Snake stands as a connecting link between the three slender-bodied species already described and the much stouter species of Eutaenia. In form, it is moderately stout, though less so than the succeeding species. The form appeals somewhat to the Western ribbon snake (E. proxima), but compared with that species the body is distinctly stouter, the head much broader and the eyes larger, while the tail is proportionately shorter--about one quarter of the total length. Besides these structural differences, the pattern differs from that of the Western ribbon snake, the stripes of the sides being very narrow--and all of the stripes are of a uniform greenish-yellow or whitish.

The abdomen is greenish-yellow, the edges of the plates narrowly spotted with black.

Total Length . . . . . 24 inches.

Length of Tail . . . . . 6 1/4 inches.

Greatest Diameter . . . . . 1/2 inches.

Width of Head . . . . . 1/2 inches.

Length of Head . . . . . 7/8 inches.

Distributions.--Arizona, New Mexico and the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. In Mexico the species is very abundant. (A closely allied species, Eutaenia macrostemma, Kenn., inhabits Mexico generally, but does not seem to occur in the United States.)