THE REPTILES OF OHIO 229 



Natrix erythrogaster tie glee ta Conant 

 Northern Copperbelly 



(Page 70; maps 16 and 53; plate 10, fig. 3) 



Recent studies have indicated that Natrix erythrogaster is readily separable 

 into four geographic races, the most northerly of which {neglecta) occurs in 

 Ohio (Conant, 1949). Thio form has been recorded from south central Mich- 

 igan, Hardm and Williams counties, Ohio, and from several localities in 

 Indiana southwestward to near the mouth of the Wabash River. The inset 

 map (page 72) shows the approximate ranges of three of the four subsp2cies: 

 (1) neglecta (characterized by a black or dark brown dorsum and a bright red 

 belly); (2) flarigaster (greenish grey above, yellow below), from southeastern 

 Missouri and western Tennessee south through Arkansas, Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana to the Gulf; and (3) erythrogaster (reddish brown above, salmon 

 below), of the Southeast. The fourth race, transversa, occurs from Kansas 

 south through Oklahoma and Tex?^ into Mexico. The subspecies erythrogas- 

 ter does not range so far north in the East as the map indicates; the Pennsyl- 

 vania records have been shown to be in error, and, according to our present 

 knowledge, the northernmost station for it is in the southern part of the Del- 

 Mar- Va Peninsula (Conant, 1945c). New Ohio records are: 



Hardin County: 3 mi. E of Mt. Victory (AMNH 68695 [the type specimen]; 

 AMNH 68696-8; OSM 505, 605, 674). Williams County: 1 mi. SW of Blakes- 

 ley (ANSP 25871). 



The status of the copperbelly in Ohio at present is highly precarious. 

 Mattlin reported more than a decade ago that the ponds near Blakesley had 

 been emptied by a "honeycomb" of drainage pipes, and Triplehorn has recent- 

 ly told me that the current intensive agricultural activities in the Hardin 

 County locality will probably destroy the habitat there. Thus, neglecta already 

 may be gone from the only two places in Ohio from which actual specimens are 

 available. There is a possibility, however, that eventually it may be found in 

 other localities, especially in the western part of the state. Shortly before I 

 left Ohio in 1935, I heard several rumors about "red-bellied black snakes" 

 along roadside ditches in the northeastern corner of Henry County, but oppor- 

 tunity was lacking to investigate them thoroughly. Thomas has had reports 

 about the former prevalence of the red-bellied water snake in Van Wert Coun- 

 ty and at Indian Lake. Ehrhart has heard tales about its occurrence in 

 Pauldmg County, and Clarence F. Clark, of St. Marys, states that he saw a 

 specimen in Nettle Creek, Williams County, as recentiv as the summer of 

 1948. Robert Goslin recalls having killed and skirned one many vears ago 

 that was taken along Pleasant Run which formerly drained a boreal relict bog 

 in the Hocking River bottoms. The species mav once have occurred even 

 farther east. Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary, described what may have 

 been a copperbelly from Gnadenhutten, Tuscarawas County, in the 1790'3 

 (Hulbert and Schwarze, 1910, 70). All such "reports" are of interest, but 

 in consideration of the ease with which dark individuals of Matrix s. sipedon 

 may be confused with neglecta, only those records which are supported by 

 actual specimens can be accepted. 



