Range-wide species occurrence data used in this report are from Enge et al. These records are documented as geographic coordinates (latitude, longitude) that can be displayed in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and represent unique observations of eastern indigo snakes at specific locations on specific dates in time. Records are element occurrence data collected over time (a few very early 1800’s records, but most records occurred between the years 1936-2017).

Figure 7: Delineation of four regions, the Panhandle, North Florida, Peninsular Florida and Southeast Georgia, within the range of the eastern indigo snake.įor each region we mapped the number of eastern indigo snake records to depict the known distribution of the species. This regional breakdown provides a framework to assess the species’ ecological and genetic diversity (representation). The North Florida region geographically connects the east-west and north-south regions. The Panhandle region represents the western portion of the species range and is disjunct from the eastern regions because of the paucity of recent eastern indigo records due to habitat degradation and losses of gopher tortoise populations from harvest for human food (Enge et al. Southeast Georgia and North Florida regions generally align with the Atlantic-Gulf (east-west) genetic gradient described by Krysko et al. The Panhandle, North Florida and Southeast Georgia regions all represent the “northern populations” and Peninsular Florida represents the “southern populations.” The north-south gradient also represents a genetic gradient described by Folt et al. Eastern indigo snake behavior, such as home range size, movement and dependence on gopher tortoise burrows for cool-season shelter has been documented to vary across a north to south gradient likely due to climatic differences (Hyslop et al. This geographic distribution represents the both the ecological and genetic diversity of the species. These regions were delineated along state and county boundaries that represent the geographic (east-west andġ7 north-south) distribution of the species. We divided the distribution of the eastern indigo snake into the following four regions: the Panhandle, North Florida, Peninsular Florida and Southeast Georgia (Figure 7). The eastern indigo snake may persist in the panhandle of Florida, but only in low numbers. In summary, the majority of recent records for the eastern indigo snake are from southeastern Georgia and peninsular Florida. As part of the current recovery strategy, repatriation of eastern indigo snakes back into former parts of its range is ongoing in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle (see section 4.8 below). Naturally occurring populations are probably no longer extant in Alabama and Mississippi based on lack of recent records (Enge et al. Eastern indigo snakes are extirpated or are very rare in the Florida Panhandle and Southwest Georgia. (2013, entire) described current extant populations (records post year 2000) to occur in much of its historical range in Georgia and Florida but records are lacking or scarce in portions of that range. The current distribution of the eastern indigo snake has a reduced geographic area compared to its historic range (Figure 6). Historical and current range of the eastern indigo snake.

1995 range map texas indigo snake