102 
Douglas A. Rossman and Robert L. Erwin 
that there is sufficient justification for giving taxonomic recognition to 
the Gulf Coastal Plain populations of Storeria occipitomaculata. This ex- 
panded concept of S.o. obscura requires, however, that the taxon be 
redefined. As reconstituted, S.o. obscura can be distinguished from the 
nominate race by having: the light nuchal marks usually contacting the 
venter (versus usually separated from the venter); the venter yellow, 
orange, or tan (versus venter some shade of red); the sample means for 
relative tail length exceeding 25% in males, 22% in females (versus sample 
means less than 25% in males, 22% in females); the sample means for sub- 
caudal number exceeding 53 in males, 45 in females (versus sample means 
less than 49 in males, 42 in females). Thus defined, S.o. obscura ranges 
from eastern Texas through southern Arkansas and Louisiana to 
Florida; it appears to intergrade with S.o. occipitomaculata in 
southeastern Oklahoma, western Tennessee, northern Alabama, Georgia, 
and the Carolinas (exclusive of the mountains, where the nominate race 
occurs). Data on ventral coloration in animals from the Carolinas may 
help to more clearly delimit the zone of intergradation. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. or the loan of material in their care 
we are grateful to the curators of the following collections: American 
Museum of Natural History; Auburn University Museum; Carnegie 
Museum of Natural History; Charleston Museum; Chicago Academy of 
Sciences; Field Museum of Natural History; University of Florida/ 
Florida State Museum; Florida State University; University of Kansas 
Museum of Natural History; E.A. Liner, private collection; Louisiana 
State University at Shreveport; Louisiana Tech University; McNeese 
State University; University of Michigan Museum of Zoology; Mis- 
sissippi Museum of Natural Science; National Museum of Natural 
History; North Carolina State Museum of Natural History; Northeast 
Louisiana University; Northwestern State University of Louisiana; Uni- 
versity of Oklahoma; Stephen F. Austin State University; University of 
Southern Mississippi; Tall Timbers Research Station; Texas Cooperative 
Wildlife Collection; and Tulane University. For providing living 
specimens, color transparencies, or color notes we thank W. Auffenberg, 
R.M. Blaney, E.A. Liner, C.J. McCoy, D.B. Means, C.W. Myers, and 
K.L. Williams. 
LITERATURE CITED 
Cliburn, J. William. 1959. The distribution of some snakes in Mississippi. 
Am. Midi. Nat. 62:218-221 . 
Mount, Robert H. 1975. The Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama. Agric. Exp. 
Sta., Auburn Univ., Auburn, Alabama. 347 pp. 
Trapido, Harold. 1944. The snakes of the genus Storeria. Am. Midi. Nat. 3/;l-84. 
Wright, Albert H., and Anna A. Wright. 1957. Handbook of Snakes of the 
United States and Canada. Vol. 2. Comstock Publ. Assoc., Ithaca, N.Y. 
pp. 565-1105. 
Accepted 16 May 1980 
