Central American Indigo Snake

About the Central American Indigo Snake

The Middle American indigo snake (Drymarchon melanurus), also known commonly as the blacktail cribo, is a species of large, nonvenomous, snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. In addition to the nominate subspecies, it has four other recognized subspecies, including D. m. erebennus, commonly known as the Texas indigo snake.

D. melanurus is a large species that can grow to a total length (including tail) of 1.80 m (6 ft) to over 2.40 m (8 ft). This species has predominantly olive-brown glossy dorsal scales evolving to black at the tail. The underside is a lighter olive-yellow, olive-tan color.

D. melanurus has distinctive dark markings round the eyes, a vertical dark slash just behind the jaw. and a heavy diagonal dark slash on both sides of the neck. The subspecies D. m. erebennus is predominantly solid black, though there can be lighter shaded variations.

The geographic range of D. melanurus extends from southern Texas southwards through the Gulf Coast of Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize. On the Pacific coast... Wikipedia →