THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Anguidae  

Slender Glass Lizard
Ophisaurus attenuatus Baird in Cope, 1880

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Author citation corrected from Cope, 1880.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.06.22.13.08.01)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.57 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Nebraska North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia Wisconsin

First instance(s) of published English names:
Glass-snake (Ophisaurus ventralis: De Kay, James E. 1842. Zoology of New-York, or, The New-York Fauna: Comprising Detailed Descriptions of All the Animals Hitherto Observed within the State of New-York, with Brief Notices of those Occasionally Found Near its Borders, and Accompanied by Appropriate Illustrations. Volume 1, Part 3 (Reptiles and Amphibians). W. & A. White & J. Visscher, Albany, New York. pp.); Glass Snake (Opheosaurus ventralis: 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.); Glass Snake (Opheosaurus ventralis: 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); Joint-snake (Ophisaurus ventralis: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); Joint-snake (Ophisaurus ventralis: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Joint Snake (Ophisaurus ventralis: Rhoads, Samuel N. 1895. Contributions to the zoology of Tennessee. No. 1, Reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 47():376-407); Glass Snake (Opheosaurus ventralis: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Slender Glass Snake (Ophisaurus attenuatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Western Slender Glass Snake (Ophisaurus attenuatus attenuatus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Eastern Slender Glass Snake (Ophisaurus attenuatus longicaudus: 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:
1880 Cope, Edward D. On the zoological position of Texas. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (17):151
1951 McConkey, Edwin H. A systematic study of the North American lizards of the genus Ophisaurus. Thesis. University of Florida, Gainesville. 107pp.
1954 McConkey, Edwin H. A systematic study of the North American lizards of the genus Ophisaurus. American Midland Naturalist 51(1):133-171
1971 Holman, J. Alan. Ophisaurus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (110):1-3
1971 Holman, J. Alan. Ophisaurus attenuatus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (111):1-3
1989 Fitch, Henry S. A field study of the Slender Glass Lizard, Ophisaurus attenuatus, in northeastern Kansas. Occasional Papers of the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History (125):1-50
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
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272
2016 Lavin, Brian R. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence dating in the Glass Lizards (Anguinae). Thesis. Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California. 70pp.
2019 Lavin, Brian R. and Derek J. Girman. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence dating in the Glass Lizards (Anguinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 133:128-140
2022 Geluso, Keith, Jamila L. Bajelan, Joshua A. Blaesi, Amber D. Dzingle, Kaylee L. Gibson, Logan H. Grose, Caine M. Haarberg, Treyton L. Hebblethwaite, Shaylee M. Johnson, Tylin K. Masco, Corral M. McClintock, Emma L. Roberts, Brock J. Uhlir, Tyler L. Underwood, Jonathan R. Wentz, Braden M. Wilkes, and Travis J. Woodcock. First reproductive evidence for the Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus) in Nebraska. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 42:10-14

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 19 May 2025 19:14 CT