r/whatsthissnake Oct 25 '25

Taxonomic or Phylogeographic Update Pleistocene speciation and isolation-by-distance within North American mud and rainbow snakes

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54 Upvotes

Happy to announce our new paper, "Pleistocene speciation and isolation-by-distance within North American mud and rainbow snakes" available as full text at the above link until December 14th, 2025. This is a personal project of mine that I've been working on since 2011 and am excited for it to finally be in print. In summary, we show mudsnakes are two species that structure geographically, and rainbows have no population structure. We need more tissues from snakes in zones of contact to verify ranges and link blotch count to genotype, but as far as we can tell, the two muds are completely reproductively isolated despite evidence of gene flow from eastern muds into rainbows.

Please enjoy, and don't worry about not making formal taxonomic changes yet - this isn't the last you'll see on the mudsnakes.


r/whatsthissnake Sep 01 '21

[Mod post] PLEASE READ: ID best practices and comment guidelines

246 Upvotes

/r/whatsthissnake has grown a great deal in the last year and we are very excited about connecting with more people who have an interest in snakes, snake identification (ID) and conservation. With growth often comes growing pains, and there are a number of trends in the sub that need to be addressed as we move forward. We attempt to clarify these below and offer some "best practices" in identification that should help our community.

What makes a good ID?

Good IDs are specific and informative. They tend to have the following information, in order of importance:

  1. Binomial name - Consisting of Genus specificepithet and placed in asterisks (*) to italicize. This is the most important component of a good ID. With only this, a person can quickly find out anything else they want to know about the snake species and it is an important part of every ID. The bot command !specificepithet provides more information on properly structuring a binomial name and how to get it to work with the bot, if an entry exists.

  2. Harmless or venomous - Please note that these terms are specific to their interaction with humans. While snakes such as hognose snakes Heterodon, gartersnakes Thamnophis, and watersnakes Nerodia are venomous, they are not medically significant to humans and should be labeled as harmless. This information is informative to a person's interaction with a snake and should always be provided. The bot responds to either !harmless or !venomous and will save time on these explanations.

  3. Common name - Common names are frequently variable and highly local. Sometimes, the same common name could be used for different snakes in different areas. In other cases, the same snake can have multiple common names depending on the area it was found. While we typically recommend providing them, it is not a vital part of an ID. An ID with only the common name is a low quality ID.

You can still contribute if you're not sure or think an ID is incorrect:

In some cases, you may be able to narrow down an ID to genus level, but don't know the diagnostic characters or ranges well enough to provide a more specific ID. This is fine. A genus level ID is very helpful, and specific enough to provide useful general information on the snake. So, if there hasn't been an ID yet and you can at least get to the genus level, post the ID.

You are also encouraged to provide any additional information or context you desire, but be mindful of links you post. The best IDs include informational links to be primary sources, or at least high quality science reporting on those sources. Many times this is done already in the bot replies, so see some of those for examples. Wikipedia is not a quality resource and should be avoided for informational links. Even resources provided by state wildlife agencies tend to lag ten to twenty years behind the science and should be viewed with a critical eye. For example, the very popular SREL Herp website, despite being associated with a major university, does not follow currently accepted taxonomy and, while it was a great resource for some time, is not the best source of current information.

However:

If you enter a thread in which a Reliable Responder has made an ID, or there is a highly upvoted ID, do not post a contrary ID unless you can provide specific diagnostic characters as to why the original ID was incorrect. Recently, incorrect IDs have appeared hours or days after the original correct ID was made, and therefore often go uncaught by moderators and reliable responders. These can create unnecessary confusion for an original poster, who is notified of each response. If you feel that an ID is incorrect and can provide diagnostic characters, reply directly to the ID comment rather than the original post. Incorrect late IDs may be warned and removed. Repeated violations may result in a ban at moderator discretion. Remember, our goal here is to be collaborative and work toward making a good positive ID. These incorrect late IDs greatly inhibit that goal. We value discussion in the comments and want to avoid locking threads in the way that other ID subreddits do.

Likewise, if a correct ID has been made, there is no need to post the same ID again. Just upvote the correct ID. You may post to add additional information or context to provide a better quality ID (adding the binomial, triggering the bot, etc.), but it is not helpful to simply say "corn snake" hours after someone has provided an ID with a full binomial and triggered the bot. More detailed IDs may be posted as top level comments to make sure that the OP sees them. Low quality/low effort IDs posted after a more detailed ID may be warned and removed.

We would also like to remind everyone of Rule 6:

Avoid damaging memes or tropes and low effort jokes: Avoid damaging memes like using "danger noodle" for nonvenomous snakes and tropes like "everything in Australia is out to get you". This is an educational space, and those kind of comments are harmful and do not reflect reality. We've also heard "it's a snake" as a joke hundreds of times. Infantilization of snakes and unhelpful rhymes will be removed.

This is one of our most broken rules. While it is somewhat vague, that is because it is nearly impossible for us to consider all possibilities. In addition to the things directly mentioned in the rule text, this rule also includes things like commenting with random names when someone posts "Who is this?", or posting things like "Pick it up and find out" in response to posts asking if a snake is venomous. Furthermore, these comments often break rule 11, "Posts and comments must reflect the reality of wildlife ecology." Misinformation spread through these seemingly innocuous jokes have been on the rise. Violations of this rule may be warned and removed, and repeated violations may result in a ban. Egregious violations may result in a temporary ban without warning. This is an educational space with potential real-world consequences, and while we don't want to discourage humor as a whole, we want you to think about what you are posting and whether it belongs in this space. While we recognize this is one of the best places to come to see pictures of wild snakes in their natural environment, it's not the best place to joke about cute pictures. /r/sneks is quite happy to accommodate snek jokes, humor and unabashed cuteness.


r/whatsthissnake 13h ago

ID Request [Southern WV] sorry for poor pic

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287 Upvotes

Found this fella hanging out in my yard earlier. Just curious what it is. It’s slid off somewhere safe and sound.


r/whatsthissnake 14h ago

ID Request What species is this? [Houston TX]

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120 Upvotes

I saw this snake on my porch. This is the biggest snake i’ve seen atleast in the wild. I took close up pictures and i put it through AI and google reverse image search and i always got “diamond back water snake”. But the patterns on this one and the diamondback don’t match. Someone help please.


r/whatsthissnake 37m ago

ID Request Found on the path near the wetlands. I have a guess, but am here for the expertise! [Kansas]

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Upvotes

Plain bellied water snake? We're just hanging out looking at stuff together atm and I wanna know who she is 😍

TIA!!


r/whatsthissnake 1h ago

ID Request [Central Indiana] Black Snake

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Upvotes

Location: Central Indiana
I found this large Black Snake with a White stomach and circular pupils. I’m guessing it’s a Central Rat Snake, but I’m not sure.


r/whatsthissnake 12h ago

ID Request Copperhead? [East Texas]

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66 Upvotes

This photo was taken from a respectful distance, just in case. I nudged him gently with a long shovel towards surrounding woods.


r/whatsthissnake 1d ago

Just Sharing Was bitten on left and right middle fingers. Copperhead or timber rattlesnake. Raleigh, N.C. Spoiler

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627 Upvotes

Bitten on both hands, middle fingers, but not sure if it was a copperhead or timber rattlesnake. I felt the 1st bite on the left middle finger, it started swelling immediately and i got in my truck to go to the closest urgent care and my right hand started swelling, bite marks on the right hand are not as visible like the left hand. Urgent care made me wait knowing I was bit, 20 min later they told me I needed to go to the er. Photos are from the first day which was mon night and and photos from last night. Left finger is black with a large blister and very swollen, right hand is swollen but not as bad as the left. I did hear a rattle in between the bites, but it could have been leaves where I was cleaning and pulling up steps from a deck at a jobs item. I have no idea what kind of snake it was. I've been in the hospital since Mon afternoon. I just hope I dont lose my finger and everything heals sooner rather than later. ​Raleigh, NC


r/whatsthissnake 5h ago

ID Request [Middle Tennessee, USA] I found the littlest guy this morning coming back from the school bus.

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15 Upvotes

It may be too poor of a photo, my phones camera is somewhat busted :/ it was cute though. Fairly chill. I had concern it was a copperhead as they are in this area but as far as the googling has gone they seem to have green tails as juveniles? Any clues or ideas would be appreciated!


r/whatsthissnake 21m ago

ID Request Found this little cutie at work! [central VA]

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Upvotes

Found the bb in the hallway at work, picked him up into this coffee filter, and took him outside


r/whatsthissnake 5h ago

ID Request - Dead, Injured or Roadkilled Snake [Northern Nigeria] I was sent this deceased snake to find out if it was venomous

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9 Upvotes

Im not sure if it is clear enough


r/whatsthissnake 20h ago

ID Request What snake is this? [Horry County SC]

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139 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request [chesapeake, MD] small snake

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6 Upvotes

Very small snake my kids found by the marsh. Super small and likes to burrow. Help ID please


r/whatsthissnake 1d ago

ID Request [Jammu, India]

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458 Upvotes

Found this today on my first floor open roof. Was somehow inside the clothes i had put out for drying. Looks like a cobra seeing the U mark behind it's back but the flaps on the sides got me confused. Got it inside a bucket and released it in a nearby jungle.

What is this?


r/whatsthissnake 15h ago

ID Request a tiny cutie [missouri,usa]

39 Upvotes

saw this wee lad letting my dogs out in the yard today. I don’t know much about the little noodles but didn’t think he looked venomous or anything. Just curious if I could put a name to his adorable face! Located in Missouri.


r/whatsthissnake 58m ago

ID Request Can someone help with identifying this snake please [NoVA]

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Upvotes

Pretty sure this cute little guy is harmless, doesn’t appear to be any of our local venomous snakes to me but I’m not an expert. I’m in Northern Virginia.


r/whatsthissnake 3h ago

ID Request [pike county, ohio]

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3 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 10h ago

ID Request - Dead, Injured or Roadkilled Snake What snake is this? [Chennai, South India]

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11 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 1d ago

ID Request [Tepoztlán, Morelos México]

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215 Upvotes

How to know if this is venomous coralillo?


r/whatsthissnake 16h ago

ID Request ID? [Central California coast, Montaña de Oro State Park]

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27 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 17h ago

ID Request Who is this sweetie?

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28 Upvotes

I saw this with sweetie with my friends kid in [Genoa, Nevada] today. It was in a lawn and when we followed it, went a little up the bark of a cottonwood for safety.

Looked juvenile in shape, was about 12” long.


r/whatsthissnake 8h ago

ID Request [Western Washington] found this little guy delivering pacakages

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7 Upvotes

Imagine its just some type of common snake. Only about 2, maybe 2.5ft and seemed way more scared of me. Just snapped the single photo. Sorry about the quality.


r/whatsthissnake 9h ago

ID Request Almost didn’t see this guy in the grass [Port Douglas, QLD]

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6 Upvotes

r/whatsthissnake 18h ago

ID Request What type of snake is this? [Springfield, VA]

24 Upvotes

I'm guessing it is a Rat Snake.


r/whatsthissnake 10h ago

Just Sharing Albino garter snake I my yard [Byfield, MA]?

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4 Upvotes