Herpetofauna: One Life's List

Diadophis punctatus arnyi
Prairie Ringneck Snake

Franklin Co., Missouri. Spring 1972.

I was a wet-behind-the-ears middle schooler when Donald Keutzer, my science teacher, took me out on my first real herping trip. On a wooded hillside, I found a number of 'firsts' including a handful of Prairie Ringnecks. It was a day I've never forgotten.  All these years later I still have an appreciation for Diadophis.

Pictured are two Prairie Ringnecks from Kansas.  Rick Milas took the bottom photo that shows the beautiful venter of this species. In the middle of a Kansas spring, one could easily find hundreds of Ringnecks in a single day.