''Erythrolamprus ornatus'', also known commonly as the ornate ground snake and the Saint Lucia racer, is a species of snake in the family

Colubridae Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...

. The species is native to the eastern

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. It is the rarest snake on earth with fewer than 20 left in the wild.

Geographic range

''E. ornatus'' is endemic to

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

, an island nation in the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of ''E. ornatus'' are forest and

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

, at altitudes from sea level to .

Description

Adults of this non-venomous snake, ''E. ornatus'', may attain a total length (including tail) of . Malhotra A, Thorpe RS (1999). ''Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean''. London: Macmillan. ix + 134 pp. . (''Erythrolamprus ornatus'', p. 97). Its coloration is variable. Some individuals have a broad brown vertebral stripe. In others, the brown stripe is interrupted by alternating yellow spots.

Behavior

''E. ornatus'' is probably diurnal.

Diet

''E. ornatus'' preys on small rodents and lizards.

Reproduction

''E. ornatus'' is oviparous.

Conservation status

In 1936, ''E. ornatus'' was declared extinct, but it was rediscovered in 1973. It disappeared again soon after, but 11 individuals were found in 2012 on the mongoose-free island of Maria Major off the coast of

Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia Vieux Fort is a town located near the southernmost point of Saint Lucia, a Caribbean island nation. It is named after a fort that used to watch out towards Saint Vincent towards the south. The population of the town was 4,574 in 2010, while the s ...

References

* Garman S (1887). "On West Indian Reptiles in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, at Cambridge, Mass". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 24: 278–286. (''Dromicus ornatus'', new species, p. 281). * Grazziotin FG, Zaher H, Murphy RW, Scrocchi G, Benavides MA, Zhang Y-P, Bonatto SL (2012). "Molecular Phylogeny of the New World Dipsadidae (Serpentes: Colubroidea): a reappraisal". ''Cladistics'' 28 (5): 437–459. (''Erythrolamprus ornatus'', new combination, p. 457). * Parker HW (1936). "Some extinct Snakes of the West Indies". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Tenth Series'' 18: 227–233. * Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). ''Amphibians & Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History''. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (''Liophis ornatus'', p. 625). * Smith HM, Dixon JR, Wallach V (1993). "''Dromicus giganteus'' Jan (Reptilia: Serpentes) is a ''nomen nudum'' ". ''Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society'' 29 (3): 77–79. * Williams RJ, Ross TN, Morton MN, Daltry JC, Isidore L (2016). "Update on the natural history and conservation status of the Saint Lucia racer, ''Erythrolamprus ornatus'' Garman, 1887 (Squamata: Dipsadidae)". ''Herpetology Notes'' 9: 157–162. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2382189 ornatus Reptiles of Saint Lucia Endemic fauna of Saint Lucia Snakes of the Caribbean Reptiles described in 1887 Taxa named by Samuel Garman Taxonomy articles created by Polbot