Storeria occipitomaculata (Red-bellied Snake)

STORERIA OCCIPITOMACULATA (Red-bellied Snake). USA: LOUISIANA: St. Mary Parish: Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge (29.69425N, 91.46701W; WGS 84). 18 August 2022. William C. Carroll and Aidan G. Phillips. Verified by Coleman M. Sheehy III. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida (UF 193423; photo voucher). Adult photographed in leaf litter in a wet bottomland hardwood forest with a mixed composition of hardwood trees and Dwarf Palmetto (Sabal minor). New parish record (Dundee and Rossman 1989. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 300 pp.). The snake was found 68.5 km to the east-southeast from the nearest other documented specimen in Vermilion Parish (UF 177730; Muse et al. 2016. Herpetol. Rev. 47:266). This record is the second documentation of S. occipitomaculata in a coastal Louisiana parish (Muse et al. 2016, op. cit.). These two recent findings challenge our previous understanding that this species is absent from coastal parishes (Boundy and Carr 2017. Amphibians & Reptiles of Louisiana: An Identification and Reference Guide. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 282 pp.). Storeria occipitomaculata is fossorial and can be difficult to locate, but these two recent records suggest additional populations may yet be discovered where suitable forested habitat exists along the coast.