Status of the Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) in North Carolina and Virginia
Mitchell JC. 2006. Status of the Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) in North Carolina and Virginia. Banisteria. (28):37-43
ABSTRACT: Opheodrys vernalis occurs in high elevation open habitats in the southern Appalachians in West Virginia, Virginia, and formerly in North Carolina. I review the available literature, museum, and personal observation records of this colubrid snake in the southeastern portion of its wide and fragmented range in North America. Extant populations occur in portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Populations also exist atop high elevation ridges in the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and other locations. A recently discovered specimen in Floyd County, Virginia, suggests that populations remain extant south of the James River in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Three locations are verified for Bland and Giles counties south of the New River. All other known populations occur north of the New River. A population at Mountain Lake Biological Station, Giles County, has apparently become extirpated. An extant specimen from the mountains of North Carolina collected in 1871, observations by W.H. Weller in 1928-1930, and observations by R.L. Hoffman in 1952 represent the only known records of O. vernalis in North Carolina. This snake is apparently extinct in that state. Opheodrys vernalis populations may be declining due to lack of maintenance of high elevation grasslands and balds by natural or prescribed fire. Conservation of this species in the southern Appalachians requires management of all known locations through use of prescribed fire and maintenance of open grassy areas.