The western terrestrial garter snake (Thamnophis elegans) is a western North American species of colubrid snake. At least five subspecies are currently recognized.
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 Thamnophis elegans has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens1
BINs1
Marker genes1
eDNA detections1
Countries1
Marker genes sequenced
★ 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
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualThamnophis elegans carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size2 669 940 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Thamnophis elegans2.67 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelChromosome
07Deep time~1.9 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 origin1.9 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 type37 931 records
Wild obs. + sensor6 361
Museum / vouchered31 568
Fossil2
Origin
Native12 035
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO27 552 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 accuracy84% within 1 km
≤100 m 3 764≤1 km 751≤10 km 336>10 km 510
5 361 georeferenced · 1 000 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor6 361
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 accuracy40% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 053≤1 km 891≤10 km 2 444>10 km 517
4 905 georeferenced · 26 663 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence31 568
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 institutions21 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
Ann Arbor, US
12 909
Oregon State Universitylocation not on record
11 427
Berkeley, US
2 412
München, DE
1 384
CASlocation not on record
843
Washington, US
442
Wuzhou, CN
328
San Diego, US
293
Los Angeles, US
252
University of Texas at Arlingtonlocation not on record
238
Tacoma, US
184
Zacatecas, MX
170
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
125
ASUlocation not on record
114
EL PASO, US
82
Provo, US
61
Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record
53
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
51
Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record
50
Seattle, US
25
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
20
University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record
18
University of Nevada, Museum of Biologylocation not on record
15
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
13
San Francisco, US
10
Victoria, CA
6
Sul Ross State Universitylocation not on record
6
Saint John, CA
5
Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record
4
New Haven, US
3
Denver, US
3
ASNHClocation not on record
3
Chicago, US
3
CCBERlocation not on record
3
Ohio State University - Reptile Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record
2
University of Victorialocation not on record
2
University of California Los Angeleslocation not on record
2
Ensenada, MX
1
Cambridge, US
1
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
1
Champaign, US
1
UBCBBMlocation not on record
1
42 institutions · 31 566 of 31 568 vouchered records shown · 2 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA1 detections
Where the DNA of Thamnophis elegans 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 found1
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 1 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
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 median14.7 °C 14.7–14.7
Seasonal swing summer↔winter28.6 °C
Max temp (day)21.4 °C
Min temp (night)7.20 °C
Precipitation29.1 mm/mo
Air humidity44.8 %
Moisture balance-130 mm/mo
Vapour deficit935 Pa
Wind speed4.70 m/s
Cloud cover32.4 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · 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 Foundation11 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility37 931 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI1 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics1 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗