Look what I found in our garden under an old chest. I have never encountered this species before. When first exposed, it curled the tip of its tail like a corkscrew to display bright red on its underside. Otherwise, this is a shy, poorly known, mostly nocturnal species. Currently considered a single widespread North American snake. Among the numerous currently recognized subspecies, this is "D. p. amabilis" which is endemic to California's central coast from Sonoma to Monterey counties. However taxonomy is in flux and a recent genetic study found several distinct lineages in California which probably should be recognized as separate species. (Fontanella et al. 2021).
