Notes on Virginia (Reptilia: Colubridae) 

 in Virginia 



Charles R. Blem and Leann B. Blem 



Department of Biology, 



Virginia Commonwealth University, Academic Division, 



Richmond, Virginia 23284 



ABSTRACT. — Female Virginia striatula in central Virginia produce 

 an average of 6.0 young/ litter and reproduce annually. Litter size, fre- 

 quency of reproduction, oviductal egg size and size of newborn young 

 are greater than those of V. striatula from the southwestern part of its 

 range in Texas. Absence of size classes below those of mature snakes 

 suggests high mortality of subadults or perhaps sampling bias caused 

 by behavioral differences between adults and young. Ventral and sub- 

 caudal counts of V. striatula from Virginia are low; comparison of 

 these with the few measurements from the rest of the range indicates 

 there is significant geographic variation, although the pattern is not 

 clear. Data from Virginia v. valeriae collected in the same area are also 

 provided. 



INTRODUCTION 



The genus Virginia includes two species of small, secretive, ground- 

 dwelling snakes: the Rough Earth Snake, Virginia striatula (Linnaeus), 

 and the Smooth Earth Snake, Virginia valeriae (Baird and Girard). In 

 Virginia, V. valeriae is represented by the nominate subspecies, V. v. 

 valeriae^ the Eastern Earth Snake. Both species of Virginia are found 

 throughout much of the southern tier of states from eastern Texas and 

 Oklahoma to the Atlantic Coast (Conant 1975). The Rough Earth 

 Snake reaches the northern edge of its known distribution along the 

 Atlantic Coast in central Virginia. The Eastern Earth Snake occupies 

 most of Virginia, and its distribution extends northward to New Jersey 

 and Pennsylvania. 



Few papers containing quantitative data have been published 

 regarding V. striatula (Clark 1964; Clark and Fleet 1976), and nothing 

 has been reported regarding the species in Virginia. As part of a long- 

 term study of reptiles at the northern edge of their range, we report here 

 morphometric and reproductive data for a population of V. striatula in 

 central Virginia. The collecting location is near the apparent northern 

 extreme of the species' range (Conant 1975; Martof et al. 1980). Addi- 

 tionally, we provide information about a smaller sample of V. v. vale- 

 riae collected in the same area. 



Brimleyana No. 1 1:87-95, October 1985 87 



