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Coluber constrictor Linnaeus, 1758 ssp. priapus Dunn & Wood, 1939
Southern Black Racer
Black Racer
Blue Racer
Florida native
A common snake throughout Florida, including the Keys but not in the Everglades, where it is replaced by supspecies paludicola, the Everglades racer. The Southern black racer ranges throughout the southeast, north into North Carolina to southern Indiana and west into Louisiana.
Adult snakes are satiny black with a white chin, the white sometimes extending down the throat. Hatchlings are grayish, with a series of reddish to brown blotches along the back and small dark spots along the sides.
Another subspecies, helvigularis - the brown-chinned racer - is found only in the Florida panhandle in the area in and around the Apalachicola National Forest.
Coluber constrictor is a member of the Colubridae - Colubrids - nonvenomous snakes family.
iNaturalist profile for this species
For more information on this species, visit the following link:
Florida Museum of Natural History page for this species
Date record last modified: Aug 08, 2025
