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ORDER TESDUDINES: TURTLES
Description: Small (up to 15 cm CL) turtle with highly variable carapace pattern of yellow or orange markings on dark background. Plastron tan or brown. Well-developed plastral hinge separates pectoral and abdominal scutes and allows shell to be closed completely. Male differs from female by having concave plastron and red rather than brown eyes. Box turtles prefer open, moist forests with opportunities to bask in general, but are often found in a variety of habitat types including grassy meadows and moderately developed areas. In some areas, box turtles frequent riparian habitats.
Description: Medium-sized (up to 18 cm CL) turtle with yellow stripes on head and olive to black carapace. Marginal scutes with vertical bars or horizontal to curved markings; red midback stripe broad. Plastron: yellow, red, or orange; dark markings broad, laterally branching, and covering most of plastron; elongated and confined to midplastral seam or absent. Habitat: Frequents most aquatic habitats but most common in shallow, quiet, weedy parts of lakes, ponds, marshes, and river backwaters.
___ Common Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)
Description: Small (up to 13 cm CL) turtle with unpatterned, light brown to black carapace. Plastron light brown to yellow. Two light stripes on side of head (fade in old individuals). Barbels on chin and throat. Shell steeply peaked with prominent keel in young, becoming more rounded (with less obvious keel) with age. Rarely seen out of water, these turtles spend most of their time on the creek bed in search of p
ORDER SQUAMATA (Suborder Serpentes): SNAKES
___ Eastern Worm snake (Carphophis amoenus)
Description: A small (up to 35 cm TL) and smooth wormlike burrowing snake with a brown back and pink belly. The pink color extends onto the first scale row. Habitat: Wooded areas, usually those with rocky soils.
___ Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor)
Description: Adult long (up to 150 cm TL) and slender. Scales are smooth, shiny and uniformly blue, blue-green or black back. Belly yellowish white to slate gray. Throat distinctly lighter. Habitat: A common snake living in a variety of habitats including forests, open areas, and edges of forests near open fields (diurnal).
___ Northern Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus edwardsii)
Description: A small (up to 40 cm TL), wormlike, burrowing snake with a blue-gray to black back. Has a yellow neck band. The belly is yellow or orange, possibly scattered with black spots or bands. Scales are smooth. Habitat: Hill prairies, bluffs, and open forests.
___ Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta)
Description: Large (up to 175 cm TL), dark snake with a highly variable pattern that ranges from a series of light blotches to completely black. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Very common snake living in a variety of forest, shrub, and edge habitats. Common around farm buildings and abandoned houses.
___ Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrinos)
Description: Medium-sized (up to 90 cm TL), stout-bodied snake highly variable in coloration and pattern. Usually gray, tan, or brown back with 20-30 dark blotches. Upturned snout. Some individuals are olive, brown or black with no blotches. Belly light or dark, but underside of tail always lighter than belly. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Forest-edge habitats and dry, open woods on clay or sandy loam.
___ Mole Kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster rhombomaculata)
Description: Adult is yellowish or olive-brown with small reddish-brown blotches down the back, alternating with smaller blotches on the sides. Each blotch has a narrow black border. Belly is yellowish-brown with indistinct brown spots. Has smooth scales. Habitat: Cultivated fields, woodlots, pasture and weed patches. Mole Kingsnakes seem to prefer well-drained land and areas of light soils rather than clays. Mainly nocturnal.
___ Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)
Description: Large (up to 120 cm TL), stout snake with highly variable dorsal coloration. Back light brown, gray, or tan with about thirty reddish brown or dark brown crossbands and blotches. Crossbands wider on back than on side, and usually wider than intervening paler areas. Belly light yellow with many red or brown half-moons. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Streams, lakes, ponds, and ditches. Commonly seen basking on rocks and logs or foraging in the water. Takes shelter under rocks, logs, and other debris along shore.
___ Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus)
Description: Slender bright green snake up to 85 cm TL (total length) with a white or yellowish white belly. Underside of head is light yellow. Head is large compared with slender neck. Long slender tail is over one-third of TL. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Inhabitants of small trees, bushes and vines, especially near lakes and streams along forest edges.
___ Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)
Description: Medium-sized (up to 60 cm TL), relatively stout-bodied brown or dark olive water snake. Belly yellow or off-white and boldly marked with two brown stripes down the center and another on each side of belly scales. Has keeled scales. Habitat: In and along banks of relatively unpolluted, rocky woodland streams where crayfish are abundant.
___ Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi)
Description: Small (up to 45 cm TL) gray or light brown snake with two rows of small, dark spots on the back. On some individuals back spots are connected by side bars to form a ladderlike pattern. Usually a faint light stripe on midback. Belly light pink. Juveniles have a gray or white collar behind the head. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Variety of forest and prairie habitats, floodplains, uplands and forest edges.
___ Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata)
Description: Small (up to 35 cm TL), slender black, gray, or dark brown snake. Sometimes a faint midback stripe and usually a light blotch on the fifth supralabial scale. Belly varies from deep red to pale orange. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Forests and moist woods, occasionally in pastures, bogs and wet meadows.
___ Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus)
Description: Medium-sized (up to 80 cm TL), slender black snake with a yellow midback stripe and a yellow stripe on each side. A brown stripe on scale rows 1-2 extends onto the sides of belly scales. Remainder of belly plain greenish white. Two rows of black spots between back and side stripes. Long tail about one-third body length. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Lowland forests, in vegetation along banks of sloughs, swamps and other similar bodies of water.
___ Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)
Description: Medium-sized (up to 100 cm TL) dark brown or black snake with a yellow or gray midback stripe and a yellow stripe on each side. Belly gray-green with dark spots on edges of most belly scales. Head usually without parietal light spots. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Forests and edge habitats, commonly near water.
___ Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae)
Description: Small (up to 35 cm TL), medium brown, dark olive, or gray-brown smooth scaled snake with a distinct head and plain white belly. Back unpatterned (sometimes with minute dark flecks). Belly white, usually with a slight greenish yellow tint, sometimes with a few dark flecks toward the side. Pointed snout. Habitat: Rocky, wooded hillsides
___ Rough Earth Snake (Virginia striatula)
Description: Gray to reddish-brown snake with cream colored belly. Has keeled scales.This species is seldom seen because of its secretive habits. Heavy rains will bring them into the open. At other times they hide under various kinds of shelter and underground.
___ Northern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortix)
Description: Large (up to 135 cm TL), stout-bodied snake. Back yellowish brown or rusty brown with reddish brown hourglass-shaped, dark-margined crossbands that are narrow across the back and wider on the sides. Belly yellow to brown with brown blotches near the edges. Top of head red-brown. Thin dark line extends from eye to angle of jaw. Eyes have vertical slits. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Wooded, rocky hillsides and forest edges, sometimes in meadows and fields during summer. Pit viper (venomous); live-bearing; nocturnal and sometimes diurnal.
___ Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)
Description: Large (up to 180 cm TL), stout-bodied snake. Two color phases (yellow or black). Back gray, light yellow, or greenish white with 20-25 black, jagged crossbars or blotches. Sometimes an orange or rust stripe down midback. Head clearly larger than slender neck. Dark stripe behind each eye. Tail tip uniformly black in adults. Belly pink, white, cream, or gray, with dark stippling toward sides. Has keeled scales. Habitat: Heavy forest along rocky outcrops and bluffs. Pit viper (venomous); live-bearing; nocturnal and sometimes diurnal.
ORDER SQUAMATA (Suborder Sauria): LIZARDS
___ Broad-headed Skink (Eumeces laticeps)
Description: A large (up to 25 cm TL), stout lizard similar in color and pattern to the five-lined skink. Adult females are olive-gray; males have brick-red heads during mating season. Habitat: Open forests and around buildings near forest edge.
___ Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulates)
Description: A medium-sized (up to 19 cm TL), stout lizard with gray to brown back sporting five to eight dark bands. Belly white with varying amounts of blue or greenish blue along ventral edges. Blue patch on throat. Habitat: Rocky, wooded areas, dry hillsides and sunny, open woodlots.
___ Five-Lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus)
Description: A medium-sized (up to 20 cm TL) lizard. Color and pattern depend on age and sex. Juvenile and subadult have a dark back with five longitudinal light lines and a blue tail. Adult female is similar but tail is not blue. Adult male loses stripes with age, eventually becoming uniform olive or brown. Body scales are keeled as opposed to other lizards found in the park. Habitat: Wooded habitats including dry uplands, floodplains and hardwood swamps. Also found on abandoned buildings.
___ Six-lined Racerunner (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus)
Description: A long (up to 20 cm TL), slender lizard with olive to brown back with six longitudinal stripes that may be white, light gray, yellow, or blue. Most stripes extend to the base of the tail. Belly is white and in male may be washed with blue. Habitat: Hilly areas and rocky open habitats.
This resource is based on the following sources:
Elliot, Lang. (1998). The Calls of Frogs and Toads. Northward Press.
Linzey, Donald. (1995). Snakes of Virginia. U.S.A. The University Press of Virginia.
National Park Service. (2003). Mammal Species List for Prince William Forest Park
Pickett, Bob. Appalachian Mammals. Retrieved December 19, 2003 from the World Wide Web: www.bobpickett.org/MAMMINDEX.htm
United States Geological Survey. (2003). ARMI National Atlas for Amphibian Distributions. Retrieved January 5, 2004 from the World Wide Web: www.usgs.gov
