Description: Adult Coniophanes imperialis can reach lengths of 12-18 inches. A light brown snake with 3 dark brown to purplish-black stripes, a thin one down the center of the back and a broad stripe on each side. A thin light line extends fron the snout to the top of the eye to the rear of the head. The upper lip scales are white with tiny black dots. The underside is pink, red, or orange. The scales are smooth and in 19 rows with the anal plate being divided.

Habitat: Habitats include forests (e.g., tropical wet, moist, and dry), savannas, agricultural landscapes, and edges of wet or marshy areas. At the northern end of the range in Texas, this snake inhabits the semiarid coastal plain, where much of the native thorn-thicket habitat (particularly along arroyos and seasonally filled watercourses and resacas) has been destroyed by agriculture; it survives around buildings and in vacant lots in localized suburban areas. This is a secretive snake that crawls in leaf litter, burrows into soil, or hides under logs or other vegetative debris or trash when inactive.

Range: The range includes low and moderate elevations on the Atlantic slope from southern Texas through eastern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, and northern and eastern Guatemala to Honduras, and locally on the Pacific slope in Oaxaca. Elevational range in Guatemala extends from sea level to about 1,970 feet.

Found in these States: TX

Diet: Eats mainly small frogs and toads; also lizards, small snakes, and baby mice.

Reproduction: Lays 2-10 eggs, late April-June. Eggs may hatch in 40 days.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the large extent of occurrence, tolerance of modified habitats, and because it is fairly common.

Subspecies: One found in our Region:
   Tamaulipan Black Striped Snake - (Coniophanes imperialis imperialis)

Taxonomy: