Reptiles
Short-Tailed Snake
Stilosoma extenuatum · also called short-tailed kingsnake
Somewhere beneath the loose, sandy soil of a central Florida scrub, a short-tailed snake tracks down a burrowing skink through tunnels neither animal ever needs to leave, an entire predator-prey relationship playing out underground where almost no one will ever witness it.
Overview
The short-tailed snake, Stilosoma extenuatum, is a rare, slender, burrowing snake endemic to sandhill and scrub forest habitat across a limited area of central Florida. Its highly specialised diet of other small reptiles, unusually long body paired with a short tail, and near-total subterranean lifestyle make it one of the more distinctive and least-observed snakes in the southeastern United States.
A specialist hunter that lives underground
Rather than the broad, opportunistic diet many snakes rely on, the short-tailed snake has narrowed almost entirely onto other small reptiles, pursuing them through the loose sandy soil both predator and prey call home.
Status
Vulnerable, restricted to a naturally small range in central Florida that has been further reduced by development and land conversion of the sandhill and scrub habitat this species depends on.
Short-Tailed Snake: common questions
Why is it called a short-tailed snake?
This species has a notably long, slender body paired with a tail that is comparatively very short relative to its overall length, an unusual proportion among snakes that gives the species its common name and can help distinguish it from other slender Florida snakes with more typically proportioned tails.
What does the short-tailed snake eat?
This species feeds almost exclusively on other small reptiles, particularly burrowing skinks such as the blue-tailed skink, hunting them underground in loose sandy soil and subduing them through constriction, a specialised diet unlike the broader range of prey most other snake species take.
Why is the short-tailed snake so rarely seen?
This species is both naturally restricted to a relatively small area of central Florida and almost entirely subterranean in habit, spending the great majority of its time burrowing beneath loose sandy soil in pursuit of prey, so even within its limited range direct sightings on the surface are genuinely uncommon.
Why is the short-tailed snake considered vulnerable?
This species survives only within a naturally restricted range in central Florida to begin with, and the sandhill and scrub habitat with the loose, well-drained sandy soil it depends on has been further reduced by development and land conversion, leaving little room for the species to adjust to any additional habitat loss.