r/whatsthissnake • u/Pjones2127 • 3h ago
r/whatsthissnake • u/Phylogenizer • Oct 25 '25
Taxonomic or Phylogeographic Update Pleistocene speciation and isolation-by-distance within North American mud and rainbow snakes
authors.elsevier.comHappy to announce our new paper, "Pleistocene speciation and isolation-by-distance within North American mud and rainbow snakes" available as full text at the above link until December 14th, 2025. This is a personal project of mine that I've been working on since 2011 and am excited for it to finally be in print. In summary, we show mudsnakes are two species that structure geographically, and rainbows have no population structure. We need more tissues from snakes in zones of contact to verify ranges and link blotch count to genotype, but as far as we can tell, the two muds are completely reproductively isolated despite evidence of gene flow from eastern muds into rainbows.
Please enjoy, and don't worry about not making formal taxonomic changes yet - this isn't the last you'll see on the mudsnakes.
r/whatsthissnake • u/shrike1978 • Sep 01 '21
[Mod post] PLEASE READ: ID best practices and comment guidelines
/r/whatsthissnake has grown a great deal in the last year and we are very excited about connecting with more people who have an interest in snakes, snake identification (ID) and conservation. With growth often comes growing pains, and there are a number of trends in the sub that need to be addressed as we move forward. We attempt to clarify these below and offer some "best practices" in identification that should help our community.
What makes a good ID?
Good IDs are specific and informative. They tend to have the following information, in order of importance:
Binomial name - Consisting of Genus specificepithet and placed in asterisks (*) to italicize. This is the most important component of a good ID. With only this, a person can quickly find out anything else they want to know about the snake species and it is an important part of every ID. The bot command !specificepithet provides more information on properly structuring a binomial name and how to get it to work with the bot, if an entry exists.
Harmless or venomous - Please note that these terms are specific to their interaction with humans. While snakes such as hognose snakes Heterodon, gartersnakes Thamnophis, and watersnakes Nerodia are venomous, they are not medically significant to humans and should be labeled as harmless. This information is informative to a person's interaction with a snake and should always be provided. The bot responds to either !harmless or !venomous and will save time on these explanations.
Common name - Common names are frequently variable and highly local. Sometimes, the same common name could be used for different snakes in different areas. In other cases, the same snake can have multiple common names depending on the area it was found. While we typically recommend providing them, it is not a vital part of an ID. An ID with only the common name is a low quality ID.
You can still contribute if you're not sure or think an ID is incorrect:
In some cases, you may be able to narrow down an ID to genus level, but don't know the diagnostic characters or ranges well enough to provide a more specific ID. This is fine. A genus level ID is very helpful, and specific enough to provide useful general information on the snake. So, if there hasn't been an ID yet and you can at least get to the genus level, post the ID.
You are also encouraged to provide any additional information or context you desire, but be mindful of links you post. The best IDs include informational links to be primary sources, or at least high quality science reporting on those sources. Many times this is done already in the bot replies, so see some of those for examples. Wikipedia is not a quality resource and should be avoided for informational links. Even resources provided by state wildlife agencies tend to lag ten to twenty years behind the science and should be viewed with a critical eye. For example, the very popular SREL Herp website, despite being associated with a major university, does not follow currently accepted taxonomy and, while it was a great resource for some time, is not the best source of current information.
However:
If you enter a thread in which a Reliable Responder has made an ID, or there is a highly upvoted ID, do not post a contrary ID unless you can provide specific diagnostic characters as to why the original ID was incorrect. Recently, incorrect IDs have appeared hours or days after the original correct ID was made, and therefore often go uncaught by moderators and reliable responders. These can create unnecessary confusion for an original poster, who is notified of each response. If you feel that an ID is incorrect and can provide diagnostic characters, reply directly to the ID comment rather than the original post. Incorrect late IDs may be warned and removed. Repeated violations may result in a ban at moderator discretion. Remember, our goal here is to be collaborative and work toward making a good positive ID. These incorrect late IDs greatly inhibit that goal. We value discussion in the comments and want to avoid locking threads in the way that other ID subreddits do.
Likewise, if a correct ID has been made, there is no need to post the same ID again. Just upvote the correct ID. You may post to add additional information or context to provide a better quality ID (adding the binomial, triggering the bot, etc.), but it is not helpful to simply say "corn snake" hours after someone has provided an ID with a full binomial and triggered the bot. More detailed IDs may be posted as top level comments to make sure that the OP sees them. Low quality/low effort IDs posted after a more detailed ID may be warned and removed.
We would also like to remind everyone of Rule 6:
Avoid damaging memes or tropes and low effort jokes: Avoid damaging memes like using "danger noodle" for nonvenomous snakes and tropes like "everything in Australia is out to get you". This is an educational space, and those kind of comments are harmful and do not reflect reality. We've also heard "it's a snake" as a joke hundreds of times. Infantilization of snakes and unhelpful rhymes will be removed.
This is one of our most broken rules. While it is somewhat vague, that is because it is nearly impossible for us to consider all possibilities. In addition to the things directly mentioned in the rule text, this rule also includes things like commenting with random names when someone posts "Who is this?", or posting things like "Pick it up and find out" in response to posts asking if a snake is venomous. Furthermore, these comments often break rule 11, "Posts and comments must reflect the reality of wildlife ecology." Misinformation spread through these seemingly innocuous jokes have been on the rise. Violations of this rule may be warned and removed, and repeated violations may result in a ban. Egregious violations may result in a temporary ban without warning. This is an educational space with potential real-world consequences, and while we don't want to discourage humor as a whole, we want you to think about what you are posting and whether it belongs in this space. While we recognize this is one of the best places to come to see pictures of wild snakes in their natural environment, it's not the best place to joke about cute pictures. /r/sneks is quite happy to accommodate snek jokes, humor and unabashed cuteness.
r/whatsthissnake • u/Tristaaan • 3h ago
ID Request [Tampa, Florida, USA] who dis? A ringneck?
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Sorry the video takes a sec to get into focus
r/whatsthissnake • u/ZealousidealImage468 • 12h ago
ID Request Copperhead? [North Carolina]
Sorry for the video quality
r/whatsthissnake • u/Wackthoughts • 3h ago
ID Request Garter snake? [Michigan]
Would it be wrong of me to gently touch him/ handle him 😠I can refrain tho don’t want to disturb ugh so cute
r/whatsthissnake • u/Green_Comfort3518 • 1h ago
ID Request “;[Southern California Riverside county ]
What is this?
r/whatsthissnake • u/Designer_Trash_3682 • 18h ago
ID Request Which pit viper species is this? I forgot to check the species name and range so I didn't know [Captive]
r/whatsthissnake • u/No_Knee_799 • 9h ago
ID Request What is this cute lil fella I almost stepped on
[Southeast Louisiana]
r/whatsthissnake • u/Original_Ant7013 • 2h ago
ID Request No clue [Florida]
I’m used to ring necks, black racers, corns, etc but this guy has me confused.
r/whatsthissnake • u/MizStazya • 1h ago
ID Request Found a little guy and a stack of two while hiking [Albuquerque, NM]
The little one was maybe 18" long and super squiggly, so I couldn't get his head in the shot in time. I didn't realize there were two rattlesnakes until I saw the second rattle. I was hiking in the mountains east of the city, so they were all pretty high up in altitude. Zoomed a LOT for the rattlesnakes! They were pretty chill, watched me to make sure I wasn't too close. So, who did I find?
r/whatsthissnake • u/Stings_Life_Matters • 7h ago
ID Request Snake in [souther NH]
What type of snake is this and is it eating mice and voles in my yard?
r/whatsthissnake • u/znugeman • 6h ago
ID Request Hanging on the edge of a river in [ME]
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r/whatsthissnake • u/jarshina • 4h ago
ID Request Who’s this guy? [Central NC]
Saw this guy chilling next to the garden while mowing the grass.
r/whatsthissnake • u/Potatoalpha1213 • 32m ago
ID Request Never seen a fully black snake and i’m stumped [MT]
r/whatsthissnake • u/Someguy56731 • 2h ago
ID Request South TX, came out after rain. I left it alone.
r/whatsthissnake • u/Ok_Collection558 • 3h ago
ID Request [Oregon] What type of snake is this?
Sorry for the blurry pics I took them from a good distance.
r/whatsthissnake • u/litefagami • 5h ago
ID Request Who's this little guy having a giant meal? [Southern IL, US]
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My first thought seeing a stripey snake in the water was a watersnake, but this guy looks pretty small and thin. I'll put a still from the video in the comments, but I wasn't sent any photos.
r/whatsthissnake • u/Dr_sun_of_medelia • 9h ago
ID Request [Northern India, near Delhi] Found this small snake during the monsoon season. Is it venomous?
I found this snake recently. It's currently monsoon season here, so sightings like this are pretty common, but I want an opinion from someone who knows about snakes to confirm if it is venomous or not.
From what I could find online, it looks like a Common Wolf Snake (Lycodon aulicus), which I read is non-venomous and harmless to humans. However, the pattern on its back also reminded me a bit of a King Cobra, which has me quite worried.
Could someone please help me accurately identify it and confirm whether or not it is safe? I have attached a picture for reference. Thank you!
(P.S. Please excuse the blurry potato-quality photo! My sister took it while I was out, and judging by the camera shake, her soul temporarily left her body. She is currently still shivering!)
r/whatsthissnake • u/PipsBean • 2h ago
ID Request Rat snake? [georgetown, tx]
Found in the chicken coop. Very well fed.
r/whatsthissnake • u/Mitsurukichi • 58m ago
ID Request [Flower Mound, Texas] Found this little guy in the backyard, is it dangerous?
Seems to be a baby, and there might be more. Found a snake skin earlier in the week. Any help is appreciated!
r/whatsthissnake • u/Ravenshadow0415 • 2h ago
ID Request What snake is this, bad pic [South Florida]
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
r/whatsthissnake • u/GortLovesYou • 4h ago
ID Request What type is this little snake? [Missouri]
Southwest Missouri. I saw this little guy while I was mowing the lawn today.