Squamata suborder
Serpentes
Cemophora coccinea -- Scarletsnake
All information found on this site falls under the INHS's Internet License Agreement.
Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan)
shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified
sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only
NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.
Key Characters: Projecting rounded snout; smooth back scales; anal plate not divided.
Similar Species: Milk snake.
Subspecies: Northern scarletsnake, C. c. copei.
Description: Small (up to 60 cm TL), slender, brightly banded snake. Back is white, cream, or yellow with large black-bordered red blotches. Head red, with dark crossbar near eyes, and barely broader than neck. Rostral scale enlarged and projects beyond lower jaw. Belly clear white or cream.
Habitat: Mixed woodlands on rocky, sandy soils.
Natural History: Semifossorial snake that spends most daylight hours buried in sand or under leaf litter, rotten logs, rocks, and other cover. In other states, eggs have been found buried in sand and pine needles late June through August. The 2-9 eggs per clutch probably hatch in September. Hatchlings range from 13 to 18 cm TL. Eats reptile eggs, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, and mice. Main predators are other snakes, birds, and mammals.
Status: Not listed as endangered because existence in Illinois remains uncertain despite isolated records from Indiana and Missouri. Known in Illinois from one specimen collected in 1942 by Fred R. Cagle at Wolf Lake Swamp, Union County, and originally identified as a red milk snake. The specimen subsequently was correctly identified by Philip W. Smith, noted herpetologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey. Searches in the vicinity of Wolf Lake and nearby Pine Hills have yielded no additional specimens.