Their historic range extended into Louisiana. The eastern indigo snake inhabits areas from far southwestern South Carolina through Florida, and west to southern Alabama and southeastern Mississippi. Although the eastern indigo snake is similar in average body mass, extremely large specimens of the bulky, sympatric venomous eastern diamondback rattlesnake can outweigh it.
Specimens over 2.6 m (8.5 ft) can weigh up to 5 kg (11 lb). This is thought to be due to intraspecies competition and combat with the males. Unlike many snakes, mature male indigo snakes are slightly larger than females. The longest recorded specimen measured 2.8 m (9.2 ft) in total length (including tail). This smooth-scaled snake is considered to be the longest native snake species in the United States. This snake received its common name from the glossy iridescent dorsal and ventral scales which can be seen as blackish-purple in bright light. The eastern indigo snake has uniform blue-black dorsal scales, with some specimens having a reddish-orange to tan color on the throat, cheeks, and chin. The eastern indigo snake has a number of common names including indigo snake, blue indigo snake, black snake, blue gopher snake, and blue bull snake. Couper brought Holbrook the type specimen from south of the Altamaha River in Wayne County, Georgia. The specific name is a latinization of the surname of American planter James Hamilton Couper (1794-1866). It is composed of the Greek words drymos (Δρυμός), meaning "forest", and archon (ἄρχων), meaning "lord" or "ruler". The generic name, Drymarchon, roughly translates to "lord of the forest".
Indigo cobra full#
For many years the genus Drymarchon was considered monotypic with one species, Drymarchon corais, with 12 subspecies, until the early 1990s when Drymarchon corais couperi was elevated to full species status according to the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, in their official names list. The eastern indigo snake was first described by John Edwards Holbrook in 1842. Eastern indigo Taxonomy and etymology Taxonomy
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