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Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803)
Northern Pinesnake
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G4T4
State Rank: S2
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: High Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 33
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Dry pine or pine-hardwood forests
This large-bodied (48-66 inches or 122-168 cm total length), non-venomous constrictor (Georgia’s third longest snake species [maximum average total length]) is distinctly black and white with a pattern consisting of a series of 19-39 saddle-like blotches, that are black toward the front of the body (blotches difficult to count anteriorly), but may be brown on or near the tail (blotches are more definitive posteriorly). The background color is dull white, yellowish, or light gray. This distinctive black and white pattern of the nominate species (P. melanoleucus) predicated the assignment of the specific epithet, “melanoleucus,” derived from the Greek words melanos which means “black” and leukos meaning “white.” This species has a high, elongated (twice as long as broad) pointed rostral scale (on the snout) that protrudes beyond the lower jaw and typically has four (2-6) prefrontal scales on the head. The small head and nape are lightly colored with numerous dark mottlings. The typically plain belly (that may possess some dark mottling) is white, cream, tan, or grayish; if a ventral (belly) pattern is present, it varies from a few black blotches on the edges to bold mottling, but is especially conspicuous posteriorly. Body scales are weekly keeled, but the scales are smooth on each side of the body within the first 4-5 rows bordering the belly. The anal scale is single (undivided). Resembling adults, juveniles and especially hatchlings (11.7-17.9 inches or 34-46 cm total length) are bolder with typically well-defined dorsal blotches (but their appearance often is subdued until the first molting).
Three subspecies are recognized – the black pine snake (P. m. lodingi), the northern pine snake (P. m. melanoleucus), and the Florida pine snake (P. melanoleucus mugitus), the latter two occurring in Georgia. Adult black pine snakes are nearly or totally black or dark brown. The Florida pine snake has an indistinct pattern consisting of a series of 19-39 tan or rusty-brown saddle-like blotches. Despite its fairly distinctive appearance and pattern, within its range in Georgia, the northern pine snake possibly could be confused with the eastern or gray rat snakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis & P. spiloides), the eastern or black kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula & L. nigra), the coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum), or the black racer (Coluber constrictor). However, rat snakes and kingsnakes have only two prefrontal scales, and rat snakes have a divided anal scale. Coachwhips and racers have smooth body scales.
Habitats usually have well-drained sandy or loamy soils and dense vegetation. In Georgia, northern pine snakes inhabit dry mountain ridges (often with shortleaf [Pinus echinatea] or montane longleaf pine [Pinus palustris]) most often near pine woods or abandoned fields.
Small mammals are this snake’s main prey including moles, rabbits, voles, mice, rats, and squirrels, but this snake will also prey upon eggs of ground-nesting birds, lizards, and other snakes (and their eggs).
Pine snakes characteristically exhibit defensive hissing which is produced by the passage of air past an enlarged epiglottal keel and a laryngeal septum. Members of the genus Pituophis (pine, bull, and gopher snakes) exhibit unique skull (snout) morphology indicative of a highly fossorial lifestyle; other burrowing adaptations of pine snakes include a narrow head (no wider than the nape/body) and posteriorly facing nares. Nesting chambers and burrows (including some hibernacula) are excavated with the snout and neck; dislodged soil is pulled out of dug borrows and chambers with loops of the neck and body. The species’ elliptical, rough, leathery (often adherent) eggs (some of the largest of any North American snake) are laid in clutches of 3-24 and hatch in 51-100 days.
The pattern of the pine snake which is thought to be an example of Batesian mimicry of rattlesnakes also functions as disruptive coloration – a pattern that breaks up what would otherwise be a solid color and an individual’s outline. This is a form of camouflage that is typically exhibited by animals that are preyed upon by visually oriented predators, have well-developed defensive abilities, cannot flee quickly, and forage in moderate light intensity. Typical differences in pattern and coloration along the length of a typical pine snake can give the casual observer of a coiled pine snake the impression that more than one snake is actually present. The back half and tail of a pine snake is characterized by strongly contrasting light and dark blotches as opposed to rather indistinct, interspersed light and dark blotches of the head and front half of the snake. While the overall blotchy pattern effectively obscures an individual snake’s outline from a distance, the effect of these broadly differing color schemes from front to back is that at close range, the head and much of the snake’s body seem to merge into the surroundings while the strongly contrasting blotches of the tail are much more conspicuous, thus deflecting imminent attacks away from the snake’s head.
In addition to conducting diurnal road surveys or line transects within suitable habitats, the implementation of more intensive surveys involving the installation of drift fence arrays incorporating box funnel traps (a technique that targets upland snake species), monitoried April – October, is recommended. Habitat suitability maps should be generated based on known habitat preferences of the pine snake (i.e., areas characterized by friable, well-drained sandy or loamy soils, especially sites encompassing xeric ridgelines with an overstory of pine, mixed pine-oak, including shortleaf pine and/or montane longleaf pine). Detection probabilities for the northern pine snake should be determined for a set of known occupied sites so that the level of confidence in detection can inform the level of survey effort necessary for a broader scale survey. Once additional sites are discovered that are occupied by the northern pine snake, more intensive surveys can be conducted. Results of these intensive surveys can be used to model correlative explanations for species presence or absence, or to explain decline in populations generally.
The pine snake Pituophis melanoleucus “complex” extends from eastern Texas, east and northeast to southern New Jersey. Genetic analyses of pine snakes across this distribution recognize two segments within the P. melanoleucus complex – an eastern clade and a central/western clade separated by the lower Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. The eastern clade consists of three subspecies: P. melanoleucus lodingi (black pine snake), P. m. melanoleucus (northern pine snake), and P. melanoleucus mugitus (Florida pine snake), the latter two occurring in Georgia. Northern pine snakes are patchily distributed across the unglaciated eastern United States, occurring from southern New Jersey south to portions of northeastern Alabama, north Georgia, and the Upstate of South Carolina. The Florida pine snake is currently believed to occur across the southeastern Coastal Plain of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Although documented from locations across the Coastal Plain, in Georgia, occurrences of the Florida pine snake are especially concentrated within the Sandhills and the Atlantic Southern Loam Plains. The degree of contiguity of the respective ranges of P. m. melanoleucus and P. melanoleucus mugitus, as well as the precise geographic extent of zones of hybridization between these two subspecies is unknown.
Pine snakes are infrequently encountered and it is thought that this perceived rarity is due, in part, to the fragmentation and reduction of available suitable habitat on the landscape over time. Habitat conversion from forested and agricultural lands to recreational, residential, and industrial development is thought to have contributed to an indirect reduction of pine snake numbers, as have road mortality, overcollection, and persecution. Additionally, snake fungal disease (SFD), an emerging disease caused by the fungal pathogen, Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, indicated by the presence of dermal lesions, edema, crusts, and ulcers, could be impacting the pine snake; the degree to which SFD has potentially caused a reduction in pine snake populations is currently unknown.
| Threat 1 | Threat 2 | Threat 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Threat | Residential & commercial development | None | None |
| Specific Threat | Housing & urban areas | None | None |
Northern pine snakes are known from Dawson Forest, Lake Russell, Paulding Forest, Sheffield wildlife management areas, and historically from areas within the Chattahoochee National Forest. P. m. melanoleucus has been recognized as Category 2, Candidate for Listing (i.e., 1989, 1991, 1994), a classification describing taxa for which a proposed listing as endangered or threatened is possibly appropriate, but for which conclusive data on biological vulnerability and threat are not currently available to support such proposed rules. Though the impression of rarity and population decline may be due to the species’ reclusive subterranean habits, it is thought to be uncommon throughout most of its range due to habitat alteration. In recognition of perceived negative demographic trends, of the limited number of documented occurrences recorded for the species, as well as the need for more information to inform conservation for the species in Georgia, this snake subspecies was added to the list of High Priority Species of Georgia’s initial Wildlife Action Plan (2005); occurrences of this subspecies are currently tracked within the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) conservation database.
An intensive survey effort for the northern pine snake is currently ongoing; objectives of this survey effort include ascertaining macro and micro habitat utilization by the northern pine snake, development of a greater understanding of the distribution of this subspecies, as well as defining the biogeographical and genetic relationship of the northern and Florida pine snakes. The long-term survey and monitoring of select Georgia populations should be initiated and periodically monitored in order to establish baseline demographics and to identify possible future population declines. Application of prescribed fire and the avoidance of silvicultural conversion or residential/urban development of xeric ridgelines in the vicinity of where pine snakes have been documented is recommended.
Beane, J. C. and L. T. Pusser. 2012. Observations on northern pine snake (Pituophis m. melanolecucus) nesting behavior in the North Carolina Sandhills. Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Science 128(3-4): 92-94.
Gerald, G. W., M. A. Bailey, and J. N. Holmes. 2006. Movements and activity range sizes of northern pinesnakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in middle Tennessee. Journal of Herpetology 40(4): 503-510.
Knight, J. L. 1986. Variation in snout morphology in the North American snake, Pituophis melanoleucus (Serpentes: Colubridae). Journal of Herpetology 20(1): 77-79.
Neill, W. T. 1947. Range of Pituophis melanoleucus restricted. Herpetologica 4(1): 29-30.
Neill, W. T. 1941. Notes on pine snakes from Georgia and South Carolina. Copeia 1941(1): 56.
Rodríguez-Robles, J.A. and J. M. De Jesús-Escobar. 2000. Molecular systematics of the New World gopher, bull and pinesnakes (Pituophis: Colubridae), a transcontinental species complex. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 14: 35-50.
Thomas M. Floyd
T. Floyd, November 2023: original account