Posted by Kathleen on September 9, 2003

Q: I found a baby ringneck in my laundry basket in my basement laundry room: yellow belly, yellow ring behind the head & beautiful sleek black scales but, oh, so tiny...maybe 4". In fact, it is so slender I can't tell if it has spots on the belly. I live in northern central Virginia so I may be in the area where the northern subspecies and the southern subspecies may mix (as one website graphed out). How can you tell which subspecies is which? How can you tell if you have a baby snake from the "integrade" zone?

A: The Southern subspecies has distinct, dark spots on its belly. The Northern subspecies may have a few, small spots but these are not obvious. Sounds to me as though you have the Northern if you can't readily see the spots.

I'm glad you asked about the ranges where two subspecies meet as there will be an intermingling of characteristics at these borders. In science, we like to have our categories black and white but nature doesn't work that way. So, as you've suspected, the areas where two subspecies of the Ringnecked Snake meet will have individuals that have characteristics of both. I think a herpetologist would make a judgement call based on its appearance that a snake from one of these areas is intermediate between the Northern and Southern subspecies and let it go at that. I'd look for the belly spots and if there were more than is typical of the Northern but fewer than the Southern, I'd call it an intermediate form - you be the judge. You may want to take a look at a field guide (Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians is a good one) and see what the different subspecies look like.

John Wiessinger ( September 10, 2003)