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Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Dipsadidae  

Western Wormsnake
Carphophis vermis (Kennicott, 1859)
KAR-foh-fiss — VER-miss

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.05.17.08.45.23)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.58 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arkansas Illinois Iowa Kansas Louisiana Missouri Nebraska Oklahoma Texas Wisconsin

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named based on its habitus.
Carphophis — From Greek: καρφός (karphos) = “dry twig,” “small stick,” or “chaff”; ὄφις (ophis) = “snake”. So Carphophis roughly means “twig snake” or “chaff snake,” likely referring to its small, slender body and secretive habits among leaf litter or twigs.
vermis — From Latin: vermis = “worm”. This reflects the snake’s slender, worm-like appearance.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Worm Snake (Carphophiops vermis: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Worm Snake (Carphophiops vermis: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Western Ground Snake (Carphophiops vermis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Worm Snake (Carphophiops vermis: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Western Ground Snake (Carphophiops amoenus: Branson, Edwin B. 1904. Snakes of Kansas. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 2(13):353-430); Worm Snake (Carphophiops amoenus: Branson, Edwin B. 1904. Snakes of Kansas. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 2(13):353-430); Ground Snake (Carphophis amoenus: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Worm Snake (Carphophis amoenus: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Western Worm Snake (Carphophis amoena vermis: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.); Worm Snake (Carphophis amoenus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Carphophis amoenus vermis (Western Worm Snake: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1859 Kennicott, Robert. Notes on Coluber calligaster of Say, and a description of new species of serpents in the collection of the North Western University of Evanston, Illinois. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 11:98-100
1924 Blanchard, Frank N. The forms of Carphophis. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters 4:527-530
1968 Clark, Donald R., Jr. A proposal of specific status for the Western Worm Snake, Carphophis amoenus vermis (Kennicott). Herpetologica 24:104-112
1970 Clark, Donald R., Jr. Ecological study of the worm snake Carphophis vermis (Kennicott) University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History 19(2):213-219
1973 Rossman, Douglas A. Evidence for the conspecificity of Carphophis amoenus (Say) and Carphophis vermis (Kennicott). Journal of Herpetology 7(2):140-141
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and reptiles in the upper Mississippi river valley: Systematic and distributional problems. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 66(4):149-152
2003 Ernst, Carl H., J. M. Orr, and T. R. Creque. Carphophis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (773):1-2
2003 Ernst, Carl H., J. M. Orr and T. R. Creque. Carphophis vermis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (775):1-4
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 17:00 CT