Storeria

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Infraordo: Caenophidia
Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Natricinae
Genus: Storeria
Species (5): S. dekayi – S. hidalgoensis – S. occipitomaculata – S. storerioides – S. victa
Name

Storeria Baird & Girard, 1853: 135 [conserved name]

Type species: Tropidonotus dekayi Holbrook, 1842, by subsequent designation by Opinion 632 (1962: 145).
Placed on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology by Opinion 632 (1962: 145).

References
Primary references

Baird, S.F. & Girard, C. 1853. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.–Serpents. Smithsonian Institution: Washington. xvi + 172 pp. BHL Reference page.
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1962. Opinion 632. Regina Baird and Girard, 1853 (Reptilia); designation of a type-species under the plenary powers. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 19(3): 145–147. BHL Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2022. Regina . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 12 October 2019.
Storeria – Taxon details on Interim Register of Marine and Non-marine Genera (IRMNG).
Storeria – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Vernacular names
English: Redbelly Snakes

Storeria is a genus of snakes in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to North America and Central America. The genus consists of five species, four of which are known as brown snakes, and the other of which is known as the redbelly snake.

Geographic range

Species in the genus Storeria are found in the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada and range south through Mexico and northern Central America.[2]
Etymology

The genus is named in honor of American physician and naturalist David Humphreys Storer (1804–1891).[2][3]
Description

As their common names imply, most snakes of the genus Storeria are a variant of brown in color. The brown can vary depending on locale, to be almost a brick red in color, to nearly black. They sometimes have a lighter-colored stripe down the center of the back, and small black blotches along the body, and just behind the head. The underside is usually lighter brown-colored, yellow, or in the case of the redbelly snake, reddish in color. They rarely grow beyond 13 in (33 cm) in total length (including tail). One of the best means of identification is by scalation. The dorsal scales are keeled, the head has no loreal scale, and the postnasal scale touches the preocular scale. So, only two scales are between the nasal opening and the eye.
Ecology

Within their ranges, brown snakes are very commonly found species of snake. They are most frequently found under leaf litter or debris piles, and are sometimes turned up during gardening. They consume a variety of invertebrate prey, including, earthworms, snails and slugs. Their only means of defense are flattening of the body and excretion from the anal scent glands.[4][5] Brown snakes give birth to live young.[2]
Species and subspecies

Storeria dekayi (Holbrook, 1836) – brown snake
Storeria dekayi anomala Dugès, 1888
Storeria dekayi dekayi (Holbrook, 1836) – northern brown snake
Storeria dekayi limnetes Anderson, 1961 – marsh brown snake
Storeria dekayi temporalineata Trapido, 1944
Storeria dekayi texana Trapido, 1944 – Texas brown snake
Storeria dekayi tropica Cope, 1885
Storeria dekayi wrightorum Trapido, 1944 – midland brown snake
Storeria hidalgoensis Taylor, 1942 – Mexican yellowbelly brown snake
Storeria occipitomaculata (Storer, 1839) – redbelly snake
Storeria occipitomaculata obscura Trapido, 1944 – Florida redbelly snake
Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata (Storer, 1839) – northern redbelly snake
Storeria occipitomaculata pahasapae H.M. Smith, 1963 – Black Hills redbelly snake
Storeria storerioides (Cope, 1866) – Mexican brown snake
Storeria victa O.P. Hay, 1892 – Florida brown snake

Nota bene: A binomial authority (or trinomial authority) in parentheses indicates that the species (or subspecies) was originally described in a genus other than Storeria.

References

Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. 1,105 pp. (in two volumes). (Genus Storeria, pp. 696-697).
Ernst, Carl H. (2012). "Storeria ". Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (900): 900.1–900.14.
Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Genus Storeria, p. 255).
Schmidt KP, Davis DD (1941). Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 365 pp. (Genus Storeria, pp. 227-230).

Conant R (1975). A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). (Genus Storeria, p. 153).