A SCHMIDT'S STRIPED SNAKE

Then the next day, Roberto the gardener, while cleaning up a weed-overgrown junk pile, ran into yet another snake species I hadn't yet seen. This one was like a brownish garter snake, with narrow lines running the body's length. It was a Schmidt's Striped Snake, CONIOPHANES SCHMIDTI, and that's it in the picture..

Schmidt's Striped Snakes are distributed from here, the northern Yucatan, south into Guatemala and Belize, so their distribution area is much smaller than the former species'. The species feeds on lizards and frogs.

I'm even more pleased to post this snake's picture because a debate among specialists is going on as to whether this is a distinct species or just a subspecies of the more generally distributed Cope's Striped Snake, Coniophanes piceivitis. Maybe this picture and geographic note will help clarify matters.

What a pleasure to feel like I might be contributing to the understanding of these species. This is the traveling naturalist's dream.