Erythrolamprus ornatus
species of reptile
Erythrolamprus ornatus, also known commonly as the ornate ground snake and the Saint Lucia racer, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to the eastern Caribbean. It is the rarest snake on earth with fewer than 20 left in the wild.
Geographic range
Erythrolamprus ornatus is endemic to Saint Lucia, an island nation in the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It once lived all over Saint Lucia, but now is only found on the islet of Maria Major.
Description
Adults of this non-venomous snake, E. ornatus, may attain a total length (including tail) of 123.5 cm (48.6 in). Its coloration is variable. Some individuals have a broad brown vertebral stripe. In others, the brown stripe is interrupted by alternating yellow spots.
Behavior and ecology
The preferred natural habitats of E. ornatus are forest and shrubland, at altitudes from sea level to 950 m (3,120 ft).
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This entry incorporates text from “Erythrolamprus ornatus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.