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Pantherophis vulpinus (BAIRD & GIRARD, 1853)

IUCN Red List - Pantherophis vulpinus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Lampropeltini, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Eastern Fox Snake
G: Östliche Fuchsnatter 
SynonymScotophis vulpinus BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 75
Elaphis rubriceps — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 270
Elaphis obsoletus var. vulpinus — GARMAN 1884: 56
Coluber vulpinus — BOULENGER 1894: 4
Coluber vulpinus — COPE 1900: 831
Elaphe vulpina — CONANT 1938
Elaphe gloydi CONANT 1940
Elaphe vulpina gloydi — MUELLER 1980
Elaphe vulpina gloydi — CONANT & STEBBINS 1991: 197
Elaphe gloydi — COLLINS 1991
Elaphe vulpina — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 196
Elaphe vulpina — SCHULZ 1996: 325
Elaphe gloydi — CROTHER 2000: 61
Elaphe gloydi — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 397
Elaphe vulpina — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 399
Pantherophis vulpinus — UTIGER et al. 2002
Elaphe vulpina — TENNANT 2003: 408
Pantherophis gloydi — SCHMIDT & KUNZ 2005: 85
Pituophis vulpinus — BURBRINK 2007
Mintonius vulpinus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2008
Mintonius vulpinus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2008
Pantherophis vulpinus — PYRON & BURBRINK 2009
Pantherophis gloydi — DEGREGORIO et al. 2011
Mintonius vulpina — SAVIOLA et al. 2012
Pantherophis vulpinus — CROTHER et al. 2012
Pantherophis vulpina vulpina — CARLISLE et al. 2008: 98
Pantherophis vulpinus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 530 
DistributionUSA (east of the Mississippi River: Wisconsin, Illinois, E Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio),
SW Canada (S Ontario)

Type locality: USA: Wisconsin, Racine County, Racine (Baird & Girard, 1853)

Type locality [gloydi]: Little Cedar Point, Jerusalem Township, Lucas County, Ohio.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesNeotype: USNM 9969, designated by Conant, from Racine, Wisconsin; original holotype (USNM 1624) lost.
Types: Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. (ANSP) 21650 [gloydi] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (Mintonius) = Description: As given for the type species in Baird and Girard (1853: 75-76), but also defined phylogenetically by Burbrink and Lawson (2007). Additionally, Mintonius differs from its most closely related genera (Pantherophis, Pituophis, and Scotophis) by aspects of its scutellation (smooth laterally and keeled on the back [juveniles smooth throughout], 2 postoculars, 1 preocular, 8 supralabials [rarely 7 or 9, and with the 4th and 5th touching the eye], 10-12 infralabials, 23-25 dorsal scale rows at mid body [rarely 27]), and color pattern (reddish-brown to dark brown blotches over a yellowish-grey to yellowish-brown ground color along the body. The head is conspicuously off-colored from the body, ranging from copper-red to light brown. The belly is yellowish overall with well-defined dark (black to brown) rectangular blotches. Mintonius differs further by morphology in having a large stout body, a short tail (15% of total length), a head slightly set off from the body, and a snout that is rounded [from COLLINS & TAGGART 2008].


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CommentSynonymy: Elaphe vulpina gloydi has been synonymized with P. vulpinus by CROTHER et al. 2011.

Hybridization: Pituophis catenifer sayi × Pantherophis vulpinus hybridize in nature.

Type species: Scotophis vulpinus BAIRD & GIRARD 1853 is the type species of the genus Mintonius COLLINS & TAGGART 2008. PYRON & BURBRINK (2009) consider Mintonius as a synonym of Pantherophis.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after the feminine Latin noun vulpes = "fox" + -inus, "pertaining to.", apparently after Rev. Charles Fox (1815-1854), an Episcopal minister. 
References
  • BADJE, A. F 2020. Geographic Distribution: Pantherophis vulpinus (Eastern Foxsnake). USA: Wisconsin: Walworth Co. Herpetological Review 51: 80.
  • Baird, S. F. and C. Girard. 1853. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.-Serpents. Smithsonian Inst., Washington, xvi + 172 pp. - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Burbrink, Frank T. and Robin Lawson 2007. How and when did Old World ratsnakes disperse into the New World? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43 (1): 173-189 - get paper here
  • Collins J T 1991. Viewpoint: a new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Review 22 (2): 42-43 - get paper here
  • Collins, Joseph T. & Travis W. Taggart 2008. An alternative classification of the New World Rat Snakes (genus Pantherophis [Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae]). Journal of Kansas Herpetology (26): 16-18 - get paper here
  • Conant, R. 1940. A new subspecies of the Fox snake, Elaphe vulpina BAIRD AND GIRARD. Herpetologica 2: 1-14 - get paper here
  • Conant, Roger 1938. The Reptiles of Ohio. American Midland Naturalist 20 (1): 1-200 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Cope, E.D. 1900. The crocodilians, lizards and snakes of North America. Ann. Rep. U.S. Natl. Mus. 1898: 153-1270 - get paper here
  • Cox, Christian L.; Eugenia S. Farrar, Jane D. Hey, and Matthew C. Morrill 2009. Cover Object Usage Among an Assemblage of Iowa Snakes. Herp. Cons. Biol. 4: 80-84 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Herpetological Circular 29: 1-82
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • Crother, Brian I.; Mary E. White, Jay M. Savage, Mallory E. Eckstut, Matthew R. Graham and David W. Gardner 2011. A REEVALUATION OF THE STATUS OF THE FOX SNAKES PANTHEROPHIS GLOYDI CONANT AND P. VULPINUS BAIRD AND GIRARD (LEPIDOSAURIA). International Scholarly Research Network Zoology 2011(436049): 1-15 - get paper here
  • Davis, Jackie L. and Darrin M. Welchert. 2013. Pantherophis vulpinus (western fox snake) predation. Herpetological Review 44 (3): 525-526 - get paper here
  • DeGregorio, Brett A.; Brian J. Putman, and Bruce A. Kingsbury 2011. Which Habitat Selection Method is Most Applicable to Snakes? Case Studies of the Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) and Eastern Fox Snake (Pantherophis gloydi). Herp. Cons. Biol. 6 (3) - get paper here
  • Duméril, A.M.C., G. BIBRON & A.H.A. DUMÉRIL 1854. Erpétologie générale ou Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles. Vol. 7 (partie 1). Paris, xvi + 780 S. - get paper here
  • Elmberg, J. 1980. Herpetological observations 77-78 [in Vernon county, Wisconsin]. Fältbiologerna Umea.
  • Ernst, C.H., & Barbour, R.W. 1989. Snakes of eastern North America. George Mason Univ. Press, Fairfax, VA 282 pp.
  • Garman, Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Hingley, K.J. 1988. The maintenance and reproduction of the Western fox snake, Elaphe vulpina vulpina, in captivity. Litteratura Serpentium 8 (3): 111-122 - get paper here
  • JADIN, R. C., AND S. A. ORLOFSKE 2020. Pantherophis vulpinus (Eastern Foxsnake). Diet. Herpetological Review 51: 152.
  • Keogh, J. Scott 1992. The fox snake (Elaphe vulpina): the "other" ratsnake. Vivarium 4 (2): 23-24
  • King, Richard B.; Oldham, Michael J.; Weller, Wayne F.; Wynn, Douglas. 1997. Historic and current amphibian and reptile distributions in the Island Region of Western Lake Erie. American Midland Naturalist 138(1):153-173 - get paper here
  • LAFLEUR, RICHARD M. & JOSHUA M. KAPFER. 2022. Geographic distribution: PANTHEROPHIS VULPINUS (Eastern Foxsnake). USA: WISCONSIN: Crawford Co. Herpetological Review 53 (1): 81.
  • Leach, Kayla and Andrew Hoffman. 2015. Geographic Distribution: Pantherophis vulpinus (eastern foxsnake). Herpetological Review 46 (3): 386 - get paper here
  • LeClere, Jeff 1995. Snakes of Minnesota: Western fox snake (Elaphe vulpina vulpina). Newsletter of the Minnesota Herpetological Society 15 (4): 6-7
  • LeClere, Jeffrey B.; Erica P. Hoaglund, Jim Scharosch, Christopher E. Smith, and Tony Gamble 2012. Two Naturally Occurring Intergeneric Hybrid Snakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi × Pantherophis vulpinus; Lampropeltini, Squamata) from the Midwestern United States. Journal of Herpetology 46 (2): 257-262. - get paper here
  • Millis, B S & Badje, A F 2019. Geographic Distribution: Pantherophis vulpinus (Eastern Foxsnake) USA: Wisconsin: Lincoln Co. Herpetological Review 50 (3): 530-531 - get paper here
  • Mueller, B.W. 1980. Die östliche Fuchsnatter (Elaphe vulpina gloydi). Herpetofauna 2 (9): 22-23 - get paper here
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  • Pyron, R.Alexander; Frank T. Burbrink 2009. Neogene diversification and taxonomic stability in the snake tribe Lampropeltini (Serpentes: Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52 (2): 524-529 - get paper here
  • Row, Jeffrey R.; Gabriel Blouin-Demers, and Stephen C. Lougheed 2012. Movements and Habitat Use of Eastern Foxsnakes (Pantherophis gloydi) in Two Areas Varying in Size and Fragmentation. Journal of Herpetology 46 (1): 94-99. - get paper here
  • ROW, JEFFREY R.; ZHENGXIN SUN, CHRISTINA CLIFFE and STEPHEN C. LOUGHEED 2008. Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for eastern foxsnakes (Elaphe gloydi). Molecular Ecology Resources 8: 965–967 - get paper here
  • Rutzen, Karl M., Philip K. Pieper and Joshua M. Kapger. 2013. Geographic Distribution: Pantherophis vulpinus (eastern foxsnake). Herpetological Review 44 (4): 629 - get paper here
  • Saviola, Anthony J.; Valerie J. McKenzie, David Chiszar 2012. Chemosensory responses to chemical and visual stimuli in five species of colubrid snakes. Acta Herpetologica 7 (1): 91-103 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, D. & Kunz, K. 2005. Ernährung von Schlangen. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster, 159 pp. - get paper here
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