Texas Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi texana)
Sugar Land, Texas; March 1, 2007

Non-venomous; Harmless to Humans & Pets; Inoffensive

Photos by D. Teller

The Dekay's brown snake is present in the United States in a number of subspecies, including the northern brown snake (S. dekayi dekayi, which serves as the model for the species), the midland brown snake (S. dekayi wrightorum), the Florida brown snake (S. dekayi victa), the marsh brown snake (S. dekayi limnetes), and the Texas brown snake (S. dekayi texana). The last two are the only subspecies native to Texas.

The basic features that signal an observer that this is a Dekay's brown snake are, first, the presence of a broad, pale, spinal band (not truly a stripe, with distinct borders, but a pale band mostly devoid of markings) bordered by a series of dark spots.  In some specimens the black spots are vaguely connected, across the pale spinal band, by what appear to be poorly defined dark specks; the specimen shown here displays this in a few places, but in the northern brown snake it is common for the first several sets of dark spots behind the head to be connected by dark lines that appear as rungs in a ladder.  A second and third set of dark spots borders the first set, with the coloration of each successive set growing lighter toward the belly.  Altogether, the dark spots on each side of the snake's body have the appearance of a checkerboard, being offset from one another, laterally, by 45 degrees.

Distinguishing between the Texas brown snake and the marsh brown snake requires examining the labial scales; the Texas brown snake has prominent dark markings on five of the upper labials, and the largest of these marks is on the subocular scale, directly below the eye (the fourth upper labial scale); the marsh brown snake has no markings on its labial scales, but has a dark streak in the scale distal of the postocular scales, directly behind the eye.

It is clear that this specimen has dark markings on its labial scales (note especially the mark on the subocular scale in the photo below), and that identifies it as the Texas brown snake. This fellow is posturing to make its body appear more substantial than it really is, in an effort to defend against an unknown threat.  It, as are all the Dekay's brown snakes, is harmless and inoffensive.

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