Reporting a Find to our Website

by Jeff LeClere

This website is designed to provide interested persons information on Minnesota's
native herpetofauna. However, we are hoping that this website will also be useful in
documenting herptiles (reptiles and amphibians) from new areas. There are a few
specific things we need to know before we are able identify the unusual snake in
your yard, or the weird frog at the park. Also, we need to be sure of what species
you saw to be able to report it correctly as a county record. This is a list of the
MINIMAL things we need to know to help you:

1. City (or nearest city & direction), county, and state where the animal was
found. This may sound obvious, but I have had a number of people contact me for
herp identification from states other than Minnesota or Iowa.

2. Accurate description of the animal. Color, markings (markings are very
important--see our markings descriptions), size, and behavior. Photographs are
far superior to any written description, even if the photo is not that good. You do
not have to be a professional photographer to take a photo of an animal to reliably
identify it. Even slightly out of focus photos can be sent as long as the pattern can
be seen.

3. General habitat description. It does not have to be really in-depth. Things like
woodland, prairie, marsh, stream, pond. A good description could be, "...under log
near cabin. Surrounding area heavily forested. Nearest water is a small pool of water
about 300 feet into woods." This lets us know that it is probably a woodland species
rather than a sand prairie species.

4. The date of the sighting can be helpful.

This is the MINIMAL amount of information we need to know to be able to help you
identify the animal. To report a county record, this information is still needed, but the
more descriptive, the better. Also, sightings of county records, though appreciated
and helpful, will not be reported for you by us. We must have a good photo or a
specimen. We prefer specimens be kept only if found dead.

Descriptions of Markings:

This is a quick description of markings that I use when I describe Minnesota's
herps, most notably snakes. This lets people know exactly what I mean. There
are four markings that I continuously use to depict the appearance of Minnesota¹s
snakes. These markings are the most useful character to me when trying to key
out herps sighted by other people. Coloration, though important, is extremely variable
in individual species and also, people may see colors differently. Additionally,
coloration is obscured by animals that are about to shed, or covered with dirt, but
the pattern may be a little more obvious. Here are the marking descriptions:

Bands: A strip of coloration that runs across a snake's back , but does not
encircle the entire body. It stops at the ventral (belly) scales or a couple scale
rows above the ventral scales. Usually darker than the ground color.

Blotches: This is another word for 'spots'. They are patches of coloration on
the back of a snake that may or may not extend onto the sides, but not to the
ventral scales. Some may be perfectly round, but most are different in shape
from one another, sometimes oblong, and can vary quite a bit on a single snake.
I reserve the term 'spots' for the smaller patches of color (often times more round
and uniform) found on the sides of blotched snakes. Blotches and spots are usually
darker than the ground color.

Rings: A strip of color that completely encircles the snake. No snake in Minnesota
has rings down the whole body. They are bands or blotches. Eastern milk snakes,
especially, tend to have blotches or bands that, when viewed from above, give the
appearance of rings. I usually use the term 'rings' for the bands on the tails of many
snakes. This coloration does not usually connect on the underside of the tail, but
almost, and when viewed from above, this coloration may be as wide as the ground
color. Even ringneck snakes do not have actual rings around their necks (it is a band
of light coloration across the nape that does not completely encircle the neck), but I
call it a ring anyway.

Stripes: A narrow strip of color that runs lengthwise down an animal. Usually, this
strip of color is lighter than the ground color, but not always.

Hopefully, this will help in describing herps that you have seen. We appreciate all
the help you can provide and even though we wish to target rarer species, to
understand their distributions better, we love to hear about even the "common stuff"!

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES.

Their are a number of pamphlets, posters and tapes on Minnesota herps by the
DNR and MHS. There are two books that are useful in learning about our herpetofauna.
The first is "Reptiles and Amphibians of Minnesota", by W. J. Breckenridge, 1944.
Even though there have been some taxonomical changes since then, and, of course,
the range maps are out dated, there is still a lot of excellent information on the
identification and natural history of Minnesota's herps. The other, "Amphibians and
Reptiles Native to Minnesota", by Barney Oldfield and John J. Moriarty, 1994, has
more recent range maps and spectacular color photos! It has great information on
our herps and is a must have for anyone seriously interested in our native herps!
And if you are, you may also want to check out the Minnesota Herpetological Society.
This organization is for anyone who keeps herps (of any kind), people interested in
native herps and projects, or veterinarians or vet students.