King Snake and Gopher Snake Examples from Southern California

One of my previous blogs focuses on some rattlesnakes that I have encountered while doing geologic field work in southern California. This present blog focuses, however, on two non-venomous snakes that I encountered while I was walking along a little-used dirt road in Towsley Canyon, just south of Santa Clarita, in northern Los Angeles County, southern California. 

The first of the two species I encountered is the:

 

California King Snake

    Family Colubridae

    Genus Lampropeltis

    Species californiae

I encountered this snake while it was on the dirt road. The snake was inert for awhile, but before I could get a measurement as to its length, the snake quickly sped off into the weeds. Typically, king snakes are 2.5 to 3.5 feet long. Their coloration is variable, ranging from black and white to black and yellow.

On the same day, later in the afternoon while hiking on the same road (in the same general area of the previous snake I saw), I came across a "Pacific Gopher Snake:"

Pacific Gopher Snake

  Family Colubridae

  Genus Pituophis

  Species P. catenifer 

  Subspecies catenifer

This kind of snake is active during the day, thus it is one of the most commonly seen snakes. 

The first photo shows the head and the typical two to three rows of spots on the sides of this gopher snake.

The second photo shows how its body can be “kinked.”

The third photo was taken just before the snake (now "unkinked") turned around and “took off” like a “rocket” for the nearby weeds. Just before it did, however, I was able to get a measurement of its length (about 90 cm) by placing, parallel to the snake, my "Jacob Staff" (= a common tool used by field geologists for measuring the thickness of rock layers; each red or white segment is 10 cm long). The Jacob Staff is also a great hiking “stick.” The head of the snake, which is on the left side of the photo, is obscured by rocks in the road. The posterior of the snake is obscured by vegetation on the side of the road.

You never know what you might see when being in the field: that is one the alluring aspects of doing field work. By the way, I encountered both snakes near dwellings along a small stream. It is apparent that wherever a human builds a structure (especially near a stream), rodents will eventually find it to be good place to live. And, of course, snakes eat rodents.

A MOST UNUSUAL CLAM

This clam, which is commonly referred to as the “”watering pot clam” or the “water spout clam,” is one of the world’s most unusual clams [if not THE MOST unusual clam!]. Its early growth stage is totally different than that of the adult stage. Its shell begins as a normally shaped clam with two tiny embryonic valves, but they soon become covered as new shell is secreted over them. The right valve becomes incorporated into a thin long tube (a.k.a., siphonal tube), and the left valve becomes incorporated into an unusual-looking inflated disc with tiny perforations. The left valve also is vertically partially buried in sediment. For orientation purposes, the buried (bulbous) end is referred to as the anterior-most part of this bivalve, whereas the long tube is the posterior part. 

A

B

C

Three views of the same shell, A-C, (10 cm long = 4 inches) of Verpa  from the Singapore, China area.  A. Side view of entire shell. B. Posterior end of shell. C. Anterior end of shell (disk somewhat broken on its top edge).

As the shell of Verpa grows, it becomes more deeply burrowed, and the long-part of the tube can become bent or curved because of growth disturbances. The tube is not cemented to other shells nor to the substrate, but grains of sand and small pebbles and shell fragments may adhere to the thin calcareous tube. The end of the tube, that is buried in the sediment, ends in a fringed-thin disk, and beyond that, a bulbous disk that bears numerous tiny perforations (holes) open to the environment (like a shower head). This fringed disc with perforations is unique among bivalves. 

The shell tube can be up 12 cm (5 inches) long. This clam is a filter feeder that prefers to live among sea grasses growing on muddy/sandy ocean-floor conditions. This clam, furthermore, is known to occur in shallow-tropical waters from the Indian Ocean to the East Indies (especially the Singapore, China and the Philippines), but, apparently is becoming increasingly uncommon/rare [with some local extinctions having taken place]. Although five species have been reported in the literature over the last many years, it might be that this bivalve is on the verge of going extinct.

Classification: 

Phylum Mollusca

Class Bivalvia

Order indeterminate (not well established) possibly Anmalodesmata

Family Clavagellidae 

Genus Verpa [see WoRMS, 2024 at---http://www.marinespecies.org]

Species: Five named species and many synonyms.

The earliest known clavagellids that might be ancestral to Verpa are of late Mesozoic age (100 to 66 million years ago).

If you want to learn more about tube-dwelling bivalves and their adaptations, read the very interesting paper by Savazzi (1982). [It is a useful and interesting guide to all of the various types of these bivalves]. Note: When Savazzi wrote his paper, he used used the now no-longer-used name "Penicillus" for the tube-dwelling bivalve discussed in this present blog.

Reference: 

Savazzi, E. 1982. Adaptations to tube dwelling in the Bivalvia. Lethaia, v. 15, no. 3, pp. 275–297.

Additional Useful Literature:

DeLany, S. T. 1971, “It’s a Bivalve, You Know.” The Tabulata, April 1, 1971, pp. 20-21. 

AN INTERESTING GEOLOGIC FOLD SYSTEM IN PAKISTAN

This post concerns a Google-Earth image in southeastern Pakistan, where a noticeable fold system trends northwardly toward the Himalaya Mountain region (Figure 1). I shall very briefly discuss the geology of each main part of this fold system. Note: Prior to 1976, there was little or no geologic mapping in this region of Pakistan.

Figure 1. Google-Earth image of southeastern Pakistan.  

Figure 2. The area pertinent to the text in this blog is located near the right side of the above-shown map (just left of the two red lines with arrows--located just left of the word "Delhi." This base map is from the “The Earth’s Fractured Surface,” published by the National Geographic Society (1995). At the southern end of the "Arabian Plate" on this map is a heavy, red line with “teeth,” indicating the presence of the Makram Suduction-Zone trench.

Figure 3. Sketch map of the geology showing the geology between the Kirthar Mountains, Makran, the Makram Mountains, the Bruhui Mountains, the Sulaiman Mountains, and the Hindu Kush Mountains.

Overview of the lithology, etc., found in each of the above-   mentioned mountain ranges:

Makran Mountains: 600 miles (1,000 km) long, bordering the shore of the Arabian Sea, these mountains represent an accretionary prism consisting of Lower Paleozoic and Mesozoic ophiolites (i.e., metamorphic “basement rocks.”) Subsequently, these rocks had a complicated geologic history that started with turbidite sedimentation, followed, during the Miocene, by deposition of thick reef limestones. There was intense tectonic dislocation at the end of the Miocene, followed by subduction (along a trench just offshore in the adjacent Arabian Sea). During Plio-Pleistocene time, there was uplift and spectacular deposition of Plio-Pleistocene fanglomerates. In the “big picture of geologic history,” the Makram area geologically was situated in adjacent to a fore-arc zone area during the Cenozoic (McCall, 1997). 

The southern margin of the Makran Mountains is just north of an active convergent boundary (i.e., the Makran Trench or Makram Subduction Zone), where the Arabian Plate is presently subducting beneath the Eurasian Plate at the rate of 2 to 4 cm/year. This subduction has caused strong compressive forces that strongly folded the Makran and Bruhui Mountain Ranges into a composite “S” shape. This shape is very noticeable on Google Earth satellite images.

The subductive forces in the Makran and Bruhui Range have caused offshore cold seeps of gases, as well as, mud volcanoes (e,g., Zalzala Jazeera “island” that formed in 2013; it subsequently was destroyed by ocean-wave action) (see Wikipedia). 

Kirthar Mountains: 190 miles (300 km) long (south to north). Rocks in the southern and middle part are mainly shale of middle Eocene age; those in the northern part are mainly limestone. The highest peak is 9,498 feet (2,895 m). The subductive forces in the Makram and Bruhui Range have caused offshore cold seeps of gases, as well as, mud volcanoes (e,g., Zalzala Jazeera “island” that formed in 2013; it subsequently was destroyed by ocean-wave action) (see Wikipedia). 

Bruhui Mountains: 225 mi (360 km) long in a series of parallel limestone ridges. The highest peak is 11,738 feet (3,578 m). The highest peak in the Brahui Range is 11,738 feet (3,578 m) high.

Sulaiman Mountains: Represent a transitional zone between the geology of the Bruhui Range and the Hindu Kush Mountains. The highest is 11,099 feet. As India tectonically moved northward, it wrenched westward, collided with this part of Pakistan, and produced some of the most unusual looking plunging folds known on Earth. 

Hindu Kush Mountains: 800-km-long mountain range; the eastern end merges with the Karakoram Range. The Hindu Kush Mountains consist of metamorphic rocks (schist, gneiss, marble, and also granite intrusives). 

References Cited:

McCall, G.J.H. 1997. The geotectonic history of the Makran and adjacent areas of southern Iran. Journal of Asian Earth Science, v. 15, issue 6, pp. 517-531. Abstract is available for free, but the pdf of the paper costs $.

National Geographic Society, April, 1995. A loose fold-out map, with the title: The Earth’s Fractured Surface. Scale 1:48,000 or 1 inch = 758 miles at the equator.   

AMARYLLIS (the plant), not the amphipod!

There are only two known species of plant with its beautiful flowers. The plant is native to the western Cape region of South Africa, in the rocky area betwwen the Oligants River and Knysna. Amaryllis has been introduced into California (see images below), Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

Its classification is:

  Kingdom Plantae

  Order Asparagales 

  Family Amaryllidacea

  Genus Amaryllis Linnaeus, 1753

  Species: only two species are known.

The common names of this plant are “belladonna lily,” “Jersey lily,” “armarillo,” “Easter lily” (in southern Australia), and the “March lily” (in South Africa). These plants, however, are only distantly related to the true lily, Lilium. 

The name “Amaryllis” symbolizes “love, beauty, and determination.” The plant is up to 3 feet tall, with long leaves. Its flowers are large and funnel shape, and have long stems. The flowers can be white, pink, apricot, rose, or deep burgundy. The images shown below are from plants grown in my garden in northern Los Angels County, Southern California.

This plant normally flowers in late summer. It is NOT frost tolerant, but it does not like tropical environments. It likes considerable shade (but not total shade) and does not like to “sit” in water.  It does well is the Los Angeles area.

While researching this flower, I was surprised to learn that the genus name “Amaryllis” is used also for a group of marine crustaceans (amphipods) that live in shallow oceans (depth from shoreline to 50 m) in the western Indian Ocean! This is allowed in the long-standing rules of taxonomy (= the naming of organisms) because the name “Amaryllis” applies to both plants and marine animals; otherwise, one name or the other would have to be changed.

Reference consulted: Wikipedia

MEDITERRANEAN CYPRESS: A TREE WITH MANY NAMES

This evergreen-conifer tree has many synonyms. Examples are the following:  Cupressus sempervirens = [“Mediterranean cypress” a.k.a  "Italian cypress"], "Tuscan cypress," "Persian cypress," “pencil pine," “tiny towers,” and/or “green spine.” 

This kind of tree tapers quickly (thus it is pencil shaped). It is a very narrow (4 to 5 feet wide) tree, but it can be very tall (commonly reported as up to 115 feet tall (= 35 m). These kind of trees rapidly increase their height (about 2 to 3 feet per year), but eventually their growth rate slows down. Their roots are primarily vertical and usually not disruptive to nearby walls. In my neighborhood in southern California (northern Los Angeles Count), there are quite a few localized stands of the "Mediterranean Cypress." The tallest ones are about 80+ feet tall (estimated height) or more, as they have been growing for many decades.

A cluster of this cypress in Southern California, with a telephone pole, for scale. I estimate this cluster to be at least 70 feet tall.

The foliage of this type of tree consists of clusters of short needles on upright branches. Shown is a cluster, 7 inches long, 5.5 inches wide.

A view showing only the uppermost 10 feet of a cluster of these trees. Their seed cones are located only in the uppermost part of each plant.

This plant does not flower, but in the late summer and fall, it produces small, roundish, green to brown (can be copper color) seed cones, which are initially closed--but open up somewhat later. Shown here are representative seed cones from the upper part of the tree. The cones are about 1.5 inches in height and ¾ inch in diameter.

Shown above is a dried-up and cracked seed cone, ¾ inch height and by ¾ inch in diameter. Dried cones are used for crafts and decorations. The cones are tightly held together at first, but eventually, they fall apart.

The fossil record of this genus is poorly known. The geologically earliest known occurrence of Cupressus in the rock record is Oligocene in age (very approximately 30 million years old) in South China (Shi, G. et al., 2011). A Paleocene fossil of Cupressoconus from Britain is probably an earlier representative of genus Cupressus (Shi et al, 2011).

References Cited or consulted

Belger, T.J. 1984. Roadside plants of southern California. Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula. 157 pp.

Shi, G. and others, 2011. Cupressus foliage shoots and associated seed cones from the Oligocne Ningming Formation of Cuangzi, south China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 166(3):325-334. (free pdf available online)

Watts, T. Desert tree finder. Natural Study Guild. 61 pp. [note: an inexpensive “pocket

book” for hikers].

WINGS? ON A GASTROPOD SHELL

Can wings can be present on a snail snail? The answer is, of course not!  But, this post concerns the so-called “winged triton” seashell, more formerly known a Gyrineum perca. In scientific description, these so-called “wings” are more properly referred to as varices. They are aligned  along the sides of the shell, and they probably provide stability on the ocean floor for the shell. The growth of varices on shells is referred to as “episodic,” growth; that is to say, it is intermittent but fast. Initially, a thin-flexible expansion of the shell is built, and as this material is secreted, it is mineralized and gradually thickened, over a period of several days. The gastropod otherwise remains inactive and concealed until the new shell material is hardened (Vermeij, 1993). 

For you “old timers,” this particular seashell was colloquially known as the “winged triton” or “maple-leaf triton.” For awhile, it was previously referred to in the scientific literature as Apollon perca or Biplex perca, but if you regularly read my posts, you will be fully aware that the names of sea-shells are commonly in a state of flux these days; mainly, because of new DNA data about these animals.

A

B

C

Gyrineum (Biplex) perca, length 55 mm, width 45 mm, thickness 16 mm.apertural view. A) apertural view. B) abapertural (back) view. C. Right-side view. No Locality data available.

Another specimen of Gyrineum perca: length 52 mm, width 40 mm, thickness 15 mm. This second specimen has an operculum [used to close off the aperture from predators]; the operculum consists of horny [=organic material which is not calcified]. Locality data not known.

According to WoRMS [World Register of Marine Species], the current classification of this seashell is:

Class Gastropoda

Order Littorinimorpha

Family Cymatiidae

Genus Gyrineum

Subgenus Biplex

Species perca (Perry, 1811)

The shell of Gyrineum (Biplex) perca ranges from 31 to 100 mm (1.2 to 3.9 inches) in length. The shell, which is white, yellowish, or pale brown, is quite flattened, with a large flange (“so-called wings”) along its two sides.

The modern-day distribution of Gyrineum (Biplex) perca is eastern Africa to Japan. It is essentially  confined to warm (tropical) waters (Wikipedia, 2024). 

Gyrineum is one of the 24 known genera of family Cymatidae Link, 1807. To view some of the species of Gyrineum that resemble Gyrineum perca (there are at least four other such species)—the differences being in the shape of the wings (flanges); for more information, see the following website: https://www.jaxshells.org/gryrineum.htm 

References Cited:

Beu, A.G. 1998. Family Ranellidae. In Mollusca The Southern Synthesis, Part B. Fauna of Australia Volume 5. Pp. 799-802. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, Australia 

Vermeij, G.J. 1993. A natural history of shells. Princeton Science Library. 207 pp.

Wikipedia. 2004.

WoRMS. 2024. World Register of Marine Species [https://marinespecies.org]

AN UNUSUAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ORB-WEAVER SPIDER

Spiders, like other arthropods, have six legs. This blog post concerns a species of spider belonging to the order Araneae, family Araneidae, and genus Argiope (the orb-weaver spiders).

Orb-weaver spiders are the most common group of spiders in the world. Some of them can be bizarre-looking and very brightly colored. I recently found two specimens in my garden. Compared to other orb-web spiders found in southern California, they are unusual. Their bodies (carapaces) have a yellowish-brown color pattern. The exteriors have several rows of prominent bumps that protrude out over the ventral surface.

I checked what literature I have in my natural-history library, as well as online, and I determined that these spiders represent an unusual variety of Argiope argentata, a species that typically lives in New World tropical and temperate regions, especial in of Central America and South America. The specimens in my garden, however, have a less spectacular color pattern than most other Argiope argentata species, which can have patches of silver, black, red, yellow, green, orange and/or brown.

A

                                            

Dorsal view of specimen (A): length of spider approximately 2 inches long). Next, below, is the ventral view (B) of this same specimen (slightly out of focus). The prominent white, “zig-zag thread” = the stabilmentum, which was secreted by the spider. See the text for a discussion of the function of the stablimentum. [Note: this kind of spider positions itself upside down on its web. The wind was blowing when I took this picture, and I could not get a sharp-focus image of ventral (bottom side) of this spider].

B 

The last and third image (C), see below, is a ventral view of another, but smaller, specimen (length only1.25 inches). Its stabilmentum is also present (on the left side of this view). The web of this specimen was more complete than the other specimen. Both specimens were found in my garden, in northern Los Angeles County, southern California. 

C

                               

Orb spiders typically have very large and complex orbicular (circular) webs. The web of the first spider photographed above (images A and B), was only a very partial one (i.e., a small lenticular-shaped remnant of its recently damaged web). I returned the next day to view the spider, again and it and the web were gone, except for a few filaments. Orb-weaver spiders are known to routinely destroy their own webs and create new ones. That is most likely the best  explanation for the sudden disappearance of its web. The web of the second specimen was a more complete (but still small) classic orb-spider web. 

Like other orb-web spiders, the ones found in my garden positioned themselves upside down in their web where they wait for their prey (e.g., mosquitoes) to get trapped.

note: a comment on the purpose of the stabilmentum. Some experts speculate that it is to make the web visible to birds that might otherwise fly into the web and, thereby, destroy it. This type of structure is commonly made by orb spiders.

Sources of Information:

Conrad, J. 2014. A blog site. Naturalist Newsletter. https://backyardnature.net. 

Levi, H.W. and Levi L.R. 1968. A guide to spiders and their kin. A Golden Nature Guide, New York, 160 pp.

Nicky Bay. Orb-weavers (Araneidae checklist)-Macro photography of many species, some with unbelievable shapes and colors). An online website.