Union County, IL and ID Help

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Noah M
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Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Noah M »

Back in 2006, a few of my friends and I went to the famous place in Illinois for herping. They kept talking of this forum where they could meet people and talk about field herping. I had no clue what they were talking about, as I was into birds at the time, but I figured, 'what the heck?' and went camping with them. Here are our finds.

Pardon the poor photo quality. This was back when my 4MP camera was awesome technology. I'd apprecaite some ID help too.

1. Yellowbelly Watersnake Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster
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2. Cricket frog Acris crepitans
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3. Midland Brown Snake Storeria dekayi wrightorum?
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4. No clue
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5. Slimy Salamander Plethodon glutinosus complex?
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6. Cricket frog Acris crepitans
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7. Black rat snake Pantherophis obsoletus
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8. Rough Green Snake Opheodrys aestivus
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9. Western Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma
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10. Black rat snake Pantherophis obsoletus
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11. Thamnophis (what kind?)
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12. Midland Brown Snake Storeria dekayi wrightorum?
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13. Yellowbelly Watersnake Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster
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14. Green Tree Frog Hyla cinerea
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15. Common Five-lined Skink Plestiodon fasciatus
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16. Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus
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17. Western Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma
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18. Ringneck Piadophis punctatus (Northern, not prairie?)
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19. Gray Treefrog Hyla spp. versicolor or chrysoscelis? Can you even tell?
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20. Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta (easter, midland, or southern?)
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21. Black Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula niger ???
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22. No clue.
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23. No clue
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24. Central newt Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis
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25. Marbled Salamander? Ambystoma opacum
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26. Black racer Coluber constrictor priapus
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27. No clue Ambystoma?
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28. Ringneck Piadophis punctatus (Northern, not prairie?)
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Thanks for looking!
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Mike VanValen »

#3. Red-bellied snake
#4. Long-tailed Salamander (maybe an intergrade with dark-sided)
#5. Slimy
#11. Looks like a western ribbonsnake (but definitely a ribbon)
#12. looks like another red-bellied
#18. Intergrade zone I believe
#19. no way to tell without hearing call (unless someone has specific info about that county)
#20. Midland painted
#21. I think it's an intergrade zone , speckled x black
#22. fence lizard
#23. racerunner
#25. yes, marbled
#27. Looks like a metamorph marbled
#28. see #18
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Noah M
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Noah M »

Thank you!

The ribbon is perhaps an orange-striped ribbon Thamnophis proximus proximus? based on other HERP records.

Is the race runner different than the six-lined we have here in Florida? It looks different to me.
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Mike VanValen »

captainjack0000 wrote:Thank you!

The ribbon is perhaps an orange-striped ribbon Thamnophis proximus proximus? based on other HERP records.

Is the race runner different than the six-lined we have here in Florida? It looks different to me.
Yes, orange-striped is, I believe, the subspecies up there.

I'm not sure about the racerunner. Cnemidophorus kills me :| I think it's an intergrade between prairie and six-lined.
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Jeff
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Jeff »

My only differences of opinion from those of Mike are
12 does look like S. dekayi minus the sometimes crossbars of wrightorum, similar to wrightorum here in Louisiana
27 looks like Ambystoma texanum


Jeff
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Noah M
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Noah M »

I don't have any great pictures of 12, but it has a blunt, rounded head, and is probably a different species than 3.

27 does have a certain Ambystoma texanum look to it...
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Mike VanValen »

I was considering texanum, and I wouldn't doubt it. I don't have any experience with those.
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Mark Brown
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Mark Brown »

Mike VanValen wrote:Cnemidophorus kills me :|
And now they've gone and changed it to Aspidoceles, haven't they? They'll always be Cnemis to me, but then, I'm still coming to grips with Nerodia. :lol:
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Carl Brune
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Carl Brune »

I would agree with 12 being Storeria dekayi. We get them like that (striped) in southern Ohio occasionally.
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justinm
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by justinm »

The ID of Dekayi would be what I would give this animal. Union county has this sort of animal in it commonly, as in Snake Road and the surrounding area. I would say that salamander metamorph is Marbled, but there are certainly texanum there, but it doesn't look right to me. The ribbon is know known as Orange Striped Ribbon, Western works for me as well. The area is a huge mixing bowl for ringnecks and if you found 30 you could likely ID them as 3-4 subspecies all found 10' from each other. Don't do it to yourself though. Just go with what keys out, for each one and call it a day.
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Don Becker
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Don Becker »

A lot of those pictures looked very familiar to me, but the top down shot of that Timber confirmed it... I was herping with you that day. It was my first trip to Snake Road. I met up with Greg and Nick from Indiana, and there were at least three other guys with them, so I am assuming you are one of those guys. Don't remember if any of the girls were down that trip or not. We met Mike Pingleton and Marty Whalin when the pulled up while Nick was trying to call in an Owl at the Winter's Pond parking lot. If none of that sounds familiar to you, then we are stuck in the Twilight zone.

I'm pretty sure this is my big paw with my wedding ring in this picture as well
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Noah M
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Re: Union County, IL and ID Help

Post by Noah M »

Yup, I'm one of those mysterious three! It was my first and only trip to the area. Nick was rather proud of his owl calling skills.
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