The eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platyrhinos), also known as the spreading adderWright, A.H., and A.A. Wright (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. (in 2 volumes). Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. (7th printing, 1985). 1,105 pp. . (Heterodon platyrhinos, pp. 305-312, Figures 93-94, Map 29). and many other common names, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to North America.McCoy, C.J., Jr., and A.V. Bianculli (1966). "The distribution and dispersal of Heterodon platyrhinos in Pennsylvania". Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society 5 (4): 153-158. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Heterodon platirhinos has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens7
BINs2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections7
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P657 bp consensus7 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 91% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Diversity (π)3.0%
Haplotypes2
BINs2
Most divergent pair7.9%
Where individuals differ — all 58 variable positions, in barcode order
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
07Deep time~12.3 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin12.3 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type10 665 records
Wild obs. + sensor7 551
Museum / vouchered3 071
Fossil38
Other5
Origin
Native529
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO31 448 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy53% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 824≤1 km 777≤10 km 441>10 km 2 767
6 809 georeferenced · 742 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor7 551
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy43% within 1 km
≤100 m 247≤1 km 730≤10 km 1 000>10 km 295
2 272 georeferenced · 799 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence3 071
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions18 of 42 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
679
Washington, US
336
Ann Arbor, US
272
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
205
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
204
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
203
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
154
Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record
136
APSUlocation not on record
112
Cambridge, US
110
Wuzhou, CN
77
Montgomery, US
73
CASlocation not on record
51
München, DE
50
New Haven, US
50
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
39
Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record
38
Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record
37
EL PASO, US
34
Berkeley, US
29
University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record
29
Los Angeles, US
21
mcnhlocation not on record
18
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
14
ASNHClocation not on record
12
ASUlocation not on record
11
F. Scorina Gomel State Universitylocation not on record
10
Provo, US
8
Ohio State University - Reptile Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record
8
Saint John, CA
4
Iowa City, US
4
UCOCVlocation not on record
3
Mount Pleasant, US
2
Philadelphia, US
2
Zacatecas, MX
1
Brussels, BE
1
Oregon State Universitylocation not on record
1
University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record
1
San Diego, US
1
Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record
1
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
1
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
1
42 institutions · 3 043 of 3 071 vouchered records shown · 9 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA7 detections
Where the DNA of Heterodon platirhinos was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found7
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 7 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median19.9 °C 15.8–22.6
Seasonal swing summer↔winter26.6 °C
Max temp (day)24.2 °C 19.8–27.0
Min temp (night)17.2 °C 12.3–19.3
Precipitation94.2 mm/mo 84.0–130
Air humidity58.4 % 57.9–60.6
Moisture balance-45.1 mm/mo -69.7–-20.2
Vapour deficit952 Pa 764–1,088
Wind speed3.80 m/s 2.70–5.50
Cloud cover37.3 % 35.8–42.1
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 5 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 665 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics7 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗