Two-striped garter snake
| Two-striped garter snake | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Genus: | Thamnophis |
| Species: | T. hammondii |
| Binomial name | |
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Thamnophis hammondii (Kennicott, 1860) |
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The two-striped garter snake (Thamnophis hammondii) is a species of aquatic garter snake that lives in western North America.
The specific name, hammondii, is in honor of William A. Hammond, the U.S. Army surgeon, who collected the first specimens.
T. hammondii is a medium-sized snake, 18-30 inches long, with a head barely wider than the neck. Two common color variations occur in the wild, a striped variant and a checkered variant. The striped variant has a yellowish lateral stripe on each side, and a fairly uniform dorsal coloring. The checkered variant lacks the lateral stripes and has two rows of small dark spots on each side.
The two-striped garter snake is found in western North America, ranging from central California to Baja California, Mexico. They are a highly aquatic species, and prefer habitat adjacent to permanent or semi-permanent bodies of water. This species feeds primarily on fish and amphibians.
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Wikipedia