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Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Natricidae  

Western Ribbonsnake
Thamnophis proximus (Say in James, 1822)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 The publication date is corrected to 1822 based on Woodman (2010, Archives of Natural History 37: 28–38).

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 2.34 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arkansas Colorado Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Mexico Oklahoma Tennessee Texas Wisconsin

First instance(s) of published English names:
Fairie's Garter Snake (Eutaenia faireyi: Yarrow, Henry C. 1876. List of Skeletons and Crania in the Section of Comparative Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum for use during the International Exhibition of 1876 in Connection with the Representation of the Medical Department U.S. Army. Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. pp.); Fairie's Garter Snake (Eutaenia faireyi: 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.); Say's Garter Snake (Eutaenia proxima: 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.); Fairie's Garter Snake (Eutaenia faireyi: 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.); Say's Garter Snake (Eutaenia proxima: 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.); Long's Garter Snake (Eutaenia proxima: 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); Garter Snake (Eutaenia faireyi: Davis, N. S. Jr. and Frank L. Rice. 1883. Descriptive catalogue of North American batrachia and reptilia, found east of Mississippi River. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 1(5):71); Rairies' Garter Snake (Eutaenia faireyi: 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); Say's Garter Snake (Eutaenia proxima: 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); Riband Snake (Eutaenia saurita: 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); Swift Garter Snake (Eutaenia saurita: 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); Garter Snake (Thamnophis proxima: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Fairey's Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proxima faireyi: Hurter, Julius. 1911. Herpetology of Missouri. Transactions of the Academy of Science St. Louis 20(5):59-274); Long's Garter Snake (Thamnophis proximus: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus proximus: Taylor, Edward H. 1929. A revised checklist of the snakes of Kansas. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 19(5):53-62); Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus proximus: 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.); Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus proximus: 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.); Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus proximus: 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:
1823 James, Edwin. Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819, 1820. By order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Maj. S. H. Long, of the United States Top. Engineers. Compiled from the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the party by Edwin James, botanist and geologist to the expedition. In three volumes. [Volume 2]. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, England. 356pp.
1908 Ruthven, Alexander G. Variations and genetic relationships of the garter-snakes. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (61):1-201
1962 Rossman, Douglas A. Thamnophis proximus (Say), a valid species of garter snake. Copeia 1962(4):741-748
1963 Rossman, Douglas A. The colubrid snake genus Thamnophis: A revision of the sauritus group. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7(3):99-178
1970 Rossman, Douglas A. Thamnophis proximus. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (98):1-3
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1977 Gartside, Donald F., James S. Rogers, and Herbert C. Dessauer. Speciation with little genic and morphological differentiation in the Ribbon Snakes Thamnophis proximus and T. sauritus (Colubridae). Copeia 1977(4):697-705
1985 Lawson, Robin. Molecular studies of Thamnophiine snakes. Dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 191pp.
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
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
1996 Dundee, Harold A. Some reallocations of type localities of reptiles and amphibians described from the Major Stephen H. Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, with comments on some of the statements made in the account written by Edwin James.  Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 30:75–89
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
2008 Genoways, Hugh H. and Brett C. Ratcliffe. Engineer Cantonment, Missouri Territory, 1819-1820: America's first biodiversity inventory. Great Plains Research 18(Spring):3-31
2010 Woodman, Neal. History and dating of the publication of the Philadelphia (1822) and London (1823) editions of Edwin James' Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. Archives of Natural History 37(1):28-38

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Saturday 26 April 2025 22:59 CT