THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Natricidae  

Aquatic Gartersnake
Thamnophis atratus (Kennicott, in Cooper, 1860)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The authority was corrected to indicate that the name was published in a publication by Cooper.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.10)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.19 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: British Columbia
USA: California Oregon

First instance(s) of published English names:
Black Garter Snake (Eutaenia atrata: 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); Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides atratus: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Pacific Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides atratus: 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.); Oregon Gray Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides hydrophila: 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.); California Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans aquaticus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Coastal Mountain Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans atratus: 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:
1860 Cooper, James G. No. 4. Report upon the reptiles collected on the survey. Pages 292-306 in Cooper, James G. and G. Suckley. Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The natural history of Washington territory and Oregon : with much relating to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, and California between the thirty-sixth and forty-ninth parallels of latitude : being those parts of the final reports on the survey of the Northern Pacific Railroad route, relating to the natural history of the regions explored : with full catalogues and descriptions of the plants and animals collected from 1853 to 1860. Bailliáere Brothers, New York, New York. pp.
1903 Brown, Arthur Edwin. The variations of Eutaenia in the Pacific subregion. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 55:286-297
1908 Ruthven, Alexander G. Variations and genetic relationships of the garter-snakes. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (61):1-201
1994 De Queiroz, Alan and Robin Lawson. Phylogenetic relationships of the garter snakes based on DNA sequence and allozyme variation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 53:209-229
2002 de Queiroz, Alan, Robin Lawson, and Julio A. Lemos-Espinal. Phylogenetic relationships of North American garter snakes (Thamnophis) based on four mitochondrial genes: How much DNA sequence is enough?. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22(2):315-329

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 19 May 2025 19:03 CT