Snakes perceive their environment through a number of sensory channels, primarily relying upon sight, ground vibrations, taste, and smell. Female snakes release pheromones that elicit male courtship behavior. Males secrete a mating plug that is produced from their renal sex segment, and is able to be sensed by other males, inhibiting their courtship behaviors and minimizing the probability of multiple inseminations of mated females.
Communication Channels: visual ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; vibrations ; chemical
Although they are susceptible to mortality on busy roads and face habitat loss in some areas, populations of this species throughout its range appear to be stable, and it is not currently listed as threatened or endangered by any regulatory body.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
Young are born fully formed, resembling smaller versions of adults. Like most snakes, they grow throughout their entire lives.
Development - Life Cycle: indeterminate growth
Lined snakes have been forced out of their preferred habitat in some areas, being pushed into residential and commercial areas. While they could possibly bite, they are non-venomous and the bite would have no lasting affect on a human, barring any allergies to the snake's saliva.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (bites or stings)
Lined snakes have little economic importance to humans, although similar species (i.e. garter snakes) are popular in the pet trade.
Positive Impacts: pet trade
Lined snakes are both predators and prey in their ecosystems.
Lined snakes mainly feed on earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris). They usually forage at night or after a rainstorm, when earthworms are most active. Their secondary diet has also been recorded to include sow bugs (Oniscus asellus), snails (Helix aspersa), slugs, and soft-bodied insects.
Animal Foods: terrestrial non-insect arthropods; mollusks; terrestrial worms
Primary Diet: carnivore (Vermivore)
Lined snakes are found in the Great Plains states, with their range snake extending from southeastern South Dakota to Texas. Disjoint populations also occur in New Mexico, eastern Colorado, southeast Iowa, and central Illinois. There are four recognized subspecies of lined snake. These include the central lined snake Tropidoclonion lineatum annectens, northern lined snake Tropidoclonion lineatum lineatum, Merten's lined snake Tropidoclonion lineatum mertensi, and the Texas lined snake Tropidoclonion lineatum texanum.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Lined snakes are found in a variety of habitats, including open prairies, the edges of woodlands and sparsely wooded areas, vacant lots, and residential areas. They hibernate during winter months in the crevices of rocky outcroppings. Individuals have been found to hibernate at a depth of 6 to 8 inches.
Range elevation: 1828 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest
Other Habitat Features: suburban
There are several major factors that limit the lifespan of lined snakes. They are highly susceptible to mortality on busy roads, as well as from the loss of preferred habitat due to agricultural cultivation, livestock grazing, and residential or commercial development. Lifespan information for this species could not be found. Average lifespan in the closely related genus Thamnophis is between 3 to 10 years.
This species is a relatively small and slender. The head is small, barely wider than the body. Adults range in size from 22 to 38 cm (8.7 to 15 inches). A variety of body colorations are present, from olive- to gray-brown. Down the middle of the back, there is a light stripe that varies in color from white to orange. There are two additional stripes along the sides. The ventral belly scales are white, with two rows of black, half moon-shaped scales down the center.
Western ribbon snakes (Thamnophis proximus proximus) resemble lined snakes, and show significant overlap in their geographical distribution. However, ribbon snakes lack the double row of black half-moon scales on their belly. Lined snakes are distinguished from crayfish snake species (genus Regina), whose color pattern also shows some resemblance, by having keeled dorsal scales and an undivided anal plate.
Range length: 22 to 38 cm.
Other Physical Features: heterothermic
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Lined snakes are preyed upon by carnivorous mammals and a variety of birds. This species possesses cryptic coloration as an anti-predator adaptation and is also very secretive, hiding under various surfaces, which further helps to reduce predation.
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Little is known regarding the specifics of mating systems in lined snakes. In related species of the genus Thamnophis, females become unattractive to sexually active males for at least 48 hours following copulation, due to the secretion and insertion of a mating plug by the previous male. This inhibition of courtship behavior minimizes the probability of multiple inseminations of his female mate. Extracts from female Thamnophis species act as pheremones, and will elicit courtship behavior from males, even when applied to other male individuals.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Female lined snakes reach sexual maturity at an age of 2 years. At this point, females may produce eggs which develop inside the body. Lined snakes breed in the fall, but fertilization is delayed until the spring, with birth occurring in August. The live young are independent at birth.
Breeding interval: Lined snakes breed once yearly in the spring.
Breeding season: Birth of live young occurs in late summer.
Range number of offspring: 2 to 12.
Range gestation period: 3 to 5 months.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; sexual ; fertilization ; viviparous ; sperm-storing ; delayed fertilization
As a viviparous species, a female lined snake provides nutrients and protection to her offspring as they develop inside her body. The young are born fully independent, and no post-birth parental investment occurs.
Parental Investment: female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
