''Opheodrys'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small to medium-sized nonvenomous

colubrid 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 ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s commonly referred to as green snakes. In North America the genus consists of two distinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

. As their common names imply, the

rough green snake ''Opheodrys aestivus'', commonly known as the rough green snake, is a nonvenomous North American colubrid. It is sometimes called grass snake or green grass snake, but these names are more commonly applied to the smooth green snake ('' Opheodry ...

has keeled

dorsal scales In snakes, the dorsal scales are the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, but do not include the ventral scales. Campbell JA, Lamar WW (2004). ''The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publis ...

, whereas the

smooth green snake The smooth green snake (''Opheodrys vernalis'') is a species of North American nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures as an adult. It g ...

has smooth

Species

Valid species

The following two species are recognized as being valid. *'' Opheodrys aestivus'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1766) – rough green snake *'' Opheodrys vernalis'' ( Harlan, 1827) – smooth green snake ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Opheodrys''.

Species removed from the genus

The genus ''Opheodrys'' at one time included two Asian species: ''O. herminae'', which is endemic to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and ''O. major'', which is endemic to Central/South

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, N.

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, and

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

. These were removed from the genus by Cundall in 1981 *''Opheodrys herminae'' ( Boettger, 1895) = ''

Ptyas herminae The Sakishima green snake (''Ptyas herminae'') is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Yaeyama Islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan. Etymology The specific name, ''herminae'', is in honor of Boe ...

'' (Boettger, 1895) – Sakashima green snake *''Opheodrys major'' ( Günther, 1858) = ''

Ptyas major The greater green snake or Chinese green snake (''Ptyas major'') is a snake of the family Colubridae. Distribution This species can be found in Central/South China (Hainan, Henan, Gansu, Anhui, Sichuan, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, ...

'' (Günther, 1858) – greater green snake

Subspecies no longer recognized

The following

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''Opheodrys'' are no longer recognized by ITIS: *'' Opheodrys aestivus aestivus'' (

, 1766) – northern rough green snake *'' Opheodrys aestivus carinatus'' Grobman, 1984 – Florida rough green snake *'' Opheodrys vernalis blanchardi'' Grobman, 1941 – western smooth green snake *'' Opheodrys vernalis borealis'' Grobman, 1992 – northern smooth green snake *'' Opheodrys vernalis vernalis'' ( Harlan, 1827) – eastern smooth green snake. However, as of May 2023, The Reptile Database still recognizes the subspecies ''O. aestivus carinatus'' in addition to the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''O. a. aestivus''.

Geographic range

Green snakes of the genus ''Opheodrys'' are found in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Description

Green snakes are so named because they are typically solid

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

in color dorsally, with a cream-colored or

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

underside. They are thin-bodied snakes that rarely exceed 90 cm (around 36 inches) in length. They have large

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

s and blunt shaped heads.

Habitat

Green snakes are often found in dense, low lying vegetation near a permanent water source. Behler JL, King FW (1979). ''The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 743 pp. . (''Opheodrys'', pp. 639-641+ Plates 475-477).

Behavior

Green snakes have been known to follow human activity. They rely on their color for camouflage and will usually attempt to escape if threatened.

Diet

Their primary

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

is soft-bodied

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s, including

crickets Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, and

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

Reproduction

Green snakes of the genus ''Opheodrys'' are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

. Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (''Opheodrys'', pp. 118-121, Figures 27-28 + Plate 12 on p. 332).

References

External links

*
Smooth Green Snake - ''Opheodrys vernalis''
Species account from the Iowa Reptile and Amphibian Field Guide
Georgia Department of Natural Resources -- Laws Related to Native Wildlife
{{Authority control Snakes of North America Snake genera Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger