Lizards and Snakes of Alabama (Gosse Nature Guides)

435 Pages·2019·24.267 MB·English

by  Craig Guyer, Dr. Mark A. Bailey Ph.D., Robert H. Mount

LIZARDS AND SNAKES OF ALABAMA
Philip Henry Gosse as a young man of twenty-nine, the year of his return to England from Alabama, painted by his
brother, William Gosse. (1839, watercolor on ivory, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery—London)
ADVISORY PANEL Dr. Gary R. Mullen, Entomology, Auburn University
(Emeritus)
Dr. L. J. Davenport, Botany, Samford University
Elberta Gibbs Reid, Birmingham Audubon Society
Dr. E. O. Wilson, Zoology, Harvard University (Emeritus)
INAUGURAL Birmingham Audubon Society
SPONSORS Mary Carolyn Gibbs Boothby
Lida Inge Hill
Fay Belt Ireland
Henry S. Lynn Jr.
Medical Management Plus, Inc.
Dr. Connie S. and Dr. James A. Pittman Jr.
Elberta Gibbs Reid
Frances B. and James W. Shepherd
Becky H. and William E. Smith Jr.
Virginia B. and William M. Spencer III
Ann A. and Donald B. Sweeney Jr.
Dr. Cameron M. and Judge J. Scott Vowell
Alice M. and N. Thomas Williams
Harriett Harton Wright
Louise A. and John N. Wrinkle
Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888) was an English naturalist and illustrator
who spent eight months of 1838 on the Alabama frontier, teaching planters’
children in Dallas County and studying the native flora and fauna. Years
after returning to England, he published the now-classic Letters from
Alabama: Chiefly Relating to Natural History, with twenty-nine important
black-and-white illustrations included. He also produced, during his
Alabama sojourn, forty-nine remarkable watercolor plates of various plant
and animal species, mainly insects, now available in Philip Henry Gosse:
Science and Art in “Letters from Alabama” and “Entomologia
Alabamensis.”
The Gosse Nature Guides are a series of natural history guidebooks
prepared by experts on the plants and animals of Alabama and designed for
the outdoor enthusiast and ecology layman. Because Alabama is one of the
nation’s most biodiverse states, its residents and visitors require accurate,
accessible field guides to interpret the wealth of life that thrives within the
state’s borders. The Gosse Nature Guides are named to honor Philip Henry
Gosse’s early appreciation of Alabama’s natural wealth and to highlight the
valuable legacy of his recorded observations. Look for other volumes in the
Gosse Nature Guides series at http://uapress.ua.edu.
LIZARDS AND SNAKES OF
ALABAMA
CRAIG GUYER, MARK A. BAILEY AND ROBERT
H. MOUNT
WITH LINE DRAWINGS BY CLAIRE C. FLOYD
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
TUSCALOOSA
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
uapress.ua.edu
Copyright © 2018 by the University of Alabama Press
All rights reserved.
Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the University
of Alabama Press.
Typeface: Scala Pro
Manufactured in China
Cover image: Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster, Elmore County, AL; photo courtesy of
James C. Godwin
Cover and interior design: Michele Myatt Quinn
Publication is supported in part by the ALABAMA MUSEUM OF
NATURAL HISTORY, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-5916-4
E-ISBN: 978-0-8173-9192-8
I see that you are surprised at the rustling noise and motion that occurs
among the dry leaves on either side, at almost every step. It is caused by the
nimble feet of little lizards, which dart along like lightning as we approach,
to the shelter of the nearest log or stone, under which they may hide: they
move so quickly that it is very seldom we can catch a glance of their bodies;
we trace them only by their motion and their sound. There are three or four
species, the most common of which is called, by a strange misnomer, the
Scorpion (Agama undulata); and it is this species which so rapidly scuttles
along under the crisped leaves. It is about six inches long, of which half is
tail: above, it is greyish, with darker bands; underneath it is palish, with a
patch of bright blue under the throat, larger in some (I think, males) than in
others. It is covered with prominent scales, each having a sharp ridge, which
gives it a rough appearance. They are very abundant, and may be often seen
chasing each other about some old log, running by little starts, now on the
top, now on the sides, and now on the bottom, it being all the same whether
the back be upward or downward.
—Philip Henry Gosse, Letters from Alabama, Letter III, Dallas County, June
1, 1838
Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Squamate Fauna of Alabama
Indigenous Species
Introduced Species
Taxonomic Changes and Problems
Climate of Alabama
Alabama Geography
River Basins
Important Geographic Units
The Coastal Plain
Lower Coastal Plain
Red Hills
Black Belt