Notes on the Eastern Hognose Snake, 



Heterodon platyrhinos Latreille (Squamata: 



Colubridae), on a Virginia Barrier Island 



David Scott 



Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, 

 P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29801 



ABSTRACT. — An unusually high population density of the eastern 

 hognose snake, Heterodon platyrhinos Latreille, is reported from a 

 Virginia barrier island. The average snout-vent length of females in 

 this population is significantly greater than the average SVL of males, 

 but individuals of equal SVL do not differ in body mass. Females also 

 differ from males in seasonal activity patterns, with males most active 

 in early summer and females in late summer. The number of dorsal 

 blotches of the island population differs significantly from that reported 

 for a mainland population on the Delmarva Peninsula. 



The eastern hognose snake, Heterodon platyrhinos Latreille, is 

 found over much of the eastern United States (Conant 1975). Within 

 this range it uses a great diversity of hatitats, but like other members of 

 the genus Heterodon it prefers dry, relatively open, sandy areas in which 

 it can burrow easily (Corrington 1929, Lynn 1936, Duellman and 

 Schwartz 1958, Piatt 1969). This type of habitat is abundant on Tom's 

 Cove Hook, a fast-growing recurved spit on the southern tip of Assa- 

 teague Island, Virginia, and H. platyrhinos is especially conspicuous at 

 this site. 



Three factors may account for the apparently high density of hog- 

 nose snakes. First, Assateague hosts a depauperate snake fauna, as do 

 many Atlantic Coast barrier islands (Gibbons and Coker 1976). Only 6 

 species occur on the island (Lee 1972), compared to 17 on the adjacent 

 Delmarva Peninsula (Martof 1980). The absence of other species may 

 promote increased numbers of H. platyrhinos. Second, the sparsely 

 vegetated dunes that form the interior of the spit provide ideal foraging 

 habitat. Fowler's toads, Bufo woodhousei fowleri, breed in freshwater 

 ponds between the dune lines and are abundant on the dunes. Hognose 

 snakes were observed several times in the act of hunting and capturing 

 toads buried in the sand. Third, it is possible that hognose snakes on 

 Assateague are no more abundant than on the mainland, but are simply 

 easier to census because of the open habitat. Given the apparent abun- 

 dance of H. platyrhinos, the objective of this paper is to present infor- 

 mation that is ordinarily difficult to obtain for a single population. 



Brimleyana No. 12:51-55, September 1986 5 1 



