REPRODUCTION 



Very little information is available. One cap- 

 tive female gave birth to nine young (eight alive 

 and one stillborn) in late August (H. Kochman 

 unpublished data). Their reproductive biology is 

 probably similar to the Gulf salt marsh snake: 

 2 to 14 live young bom during midsummer 

 (Kochman and Christman 1979a, 1979b), with an 

 average litter size of 6 to 7 (H. Kochman unpub- 

 lished data). 



MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION 



Portions of their known range include State 

 and Federal lands along the Atlantic coast of 

 Florida: Tomoka State Park (Volusia County), 

 Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (Volusia 

 and Brevard Counties), Cape Kennedy Air Force 

 Station (Brevard County), Patrick Air Force Base 

 (Brevard County), and the Pelican Island 

 National Wildlife Refuge (Indian River County). 



In a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice, Office of Endangered Species (December 

 1976), H. Kochman emphasized that habitat alter- 

 ation and subsequent hybridization pose the 

 chief threats to the Atlantic salt marsh snake. In 

 view ofM /a5aa to 's high variability along Florida's 

 Atlantic coast, it was concluded that conservation 

 measures must be oriented toward safeguarding 

 habitats and populations rather than a specific 

 phenotype. 



The designation of Critical Habitat in coastal 

 areas of Volusia, Brevard and Indian River coun- 

 ties has been recommended by representatives of 

 various Federal, State and private organizations 

 (42 FR 60743-60745; 29 November 1977). 



No formal advisory committee or recovery 

 team has been established. 



AUTHORITIES 



Archie F. Can- 

 Department of Zoology 

 University of Florida 

 Gainesville, FL 32611 



Richard Demmer 



District V Naturalist 



Division of Recreation and Parks 



Florida Department of Natural Resources 



Route l,Box 107AA 



Clermont, FL 32711 



Howard I. Kochman 

 National Fish and Wildlife Laboratory 

 412 N. E. 16di Avenue, Room 250 

 GainesvUle, FL 32612 



PREPARER'S COMMENTS 



The distribution and status of the Atlantic 

 salt marsh snake remain essentially unknown. 

 Further study may extend its knovsm home range 

 northward and southward along the Atlantic 

 coast of Florida. Potentially suitable habitat 

 should be surveyed for undiscovered populations, 

 followed by designation of Critical Habitat in ap- 

 propriate areas. A special interagency advisory 

 committee with recovery team functions should 

 be established to evaluate alternatives for effec- 

 tive conservation and management. 



Water snakes from scattered localities along 

 the Gulf coast may exhibit a pattern of striping 

 and spotting similar to the Atlantic salt marsh 

 snake (Conant 1975). In many instances, this is 

 the result of hybridization between the longi- 

 tudinally striped Gulf salt marsh snake and ad- 

 jacent cross-banded races (Pettus 1956, 1963). It 

 has been suggested that the Atlantic salt marsh 

 snake may likewise be the product of hybridi- 

 zation dating back to Pleistocene contact of 

 striped and banded populations (Kochman 1977, 

 Kochman and Christman 1979a). Dunson (in 

 preparation) does not consider the Atlantic salt 

 marsh snake sufficiently distinct from the man- 

 grove water snake to warrant subspecific status. 



UTERATURE CITED/SELECTED 

 REFERENCES 



Carr, A. F., and C. J. Coin. 1942. Rehabilitation 



of Matrix sipedon taeniata Cope. Proc. New 

 England Zool. Club 21:47-54. 



Conant, R. 1975. A field guide to reptiles and am- 

 phibians of eastern and central North America. 

 Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston 429 pp. 



Dodd, C. K., Jr. 1978. Amphibians & reptiles, the 

 declining species. Water Spectrum 10(1):24- 

 32. 



Dunson, W. A. Occurrence of partially striped 

 forms of the mangrove snake Nerodia fasciata 

 compressicauda Kennicott and comments on 

 the status of N. f. taeniata Cope. Unpubl. MS. 



Kochman, H. I. 1977. Differentiation and hybri- 

 dization in the Matrix fasciata complex (Rep- 

 tilia:Serpentes): A nonmorphological ap- 

 proach. M.S. Thesis, University of Florida, 

 Gainesville. 105 pp. 



Kochman, H. I., and S. P. Christman. 1979a. At- 

 lantic salt marsh snake. Pages 27-28 in R. W. 

 McDiarmid, ed. Rare and endangered biota of 

 Florida, Vol. 3, amphibians and reptiles. Univ. 

 Presses of Florida, Gainesville. 



