Tracy KarplusViews:
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“Pictured here alongside two crayfish burrow chimneys is a large, gravid Kirtland’s Snake (Clonophis kirtlandii) discovered at a previously unknown site within the Grand Prairie Division of Illinois.
Kirtland’s Snakes are perhaps most well-known for their microhabitat associations with burrowing crayfishes, where they traverse the aquatic-fossorial and predator-prey boundary in the dark, flooded underground labyrinths excavated by their crayfish hosts.
These enigmatic natricids are endemic to the relictual tallgrass prairie mosaic known as the Prairie Peninsula, which—to the snakes’ detriment—harbors some of the most agriculturally rich soils in the world. However, amidst our anthropic mess of plowed, drained, and channelized lands, pockets of these herpetological jewels still manage to persist in some of the seemingly least optimal conditions imaginable.” – Tristan Schramer
Our Photo of the Month comes to us from Tristan Schramer – thank you for sharing your work with us!
To connect with Tristan and see more of his work, please check out his profiles on Twitter, Instagram and ResearchGate.
