The rubber road snake

Several years ago — in June of 1998 to be exact — while my family and I were in Klamath County on a Great Gray Owl banding expedition with Tom and Casey Rodhouse, we discovered a beautiful specimen of a Rubber Road Snake, Flexilius robustus.

As far as I can find, this snake has never been described in the scientific literature; even Al St. John, Bend author of “Reptiles of the Northwest,” missed it, as did Ed Park, a famous wildlife writer in Prineville. Fearing a lost opportunity, I took the liberty of giving it its scientific name.

I do not feel at all uncomfortable proffering a new scientific name, as early paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope did it all the time when they dug up a new piece of fossil they had never seen before.

Marsh taught at Yale, served as president of the National Academy of Science and was a good friend of both Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley. Cope, who enjoyed a large inheritance, used his fortune to support extensive palentological fieldwork in the West. His 1,500 publications powerfully shaped Americanpaleontology.

Those guys named new Genera from just one bone and the entire scientific community swallowed it hook, line and sinker (even though they sometimes placed the wrong head on the wrong dinosaur). Therefore, I see no problems with my work — shucks, I’ve seen entire skins of Rubber Road Snakes.

Please do not get me wrong; I am not placing myself in the same league as the illustrious Cope & Marsh. No, sireee, I’m just a lowly naturalist.

To make that even less imposing, in my case a naturalist is a biologist that flunked chemistry.

Nevertheless, revealing the discovery of Flexilius robustus has not been taken with any degree of frivolity. What promoted my decision to go public was the insistence of my daughter, Miriam (now in college), who over the years has been asserting, “Dad, we can’t keep this to ourselves, we owe it to science!”

Please, however, take a moment to ponder my dilemma. Had I just off-handedly reported our discovery in ’98, there is no question that I would have been put under great scrutiny by the Highway 97 Wildlife Watch Society (H97WWS).

As you may know, H97WWS is constantly monitoring the crisis of mauled and mutilated mule deer along the entire Highway 97 corridor and questioning everything devised to prevent further wildlife fatalities.

Nevertheless, I think enough time has passed; in addition, I’ve seen the remains of these animals flattened along other highways — as I’m sure you have.

While traveling south on 97 that day, we saw the remains of two Rubber Road Snakes between La Pine and Crescent. We did not stop as they were too badly damaged by being repeatedly run over. And as I’m sure you know, stopping — or even slowing down — on Highway 97 can be hazardous to your health.

As we approached the boundary of the Winema National Forest alongside the Williamson River Road my daughter Miriam suddenly shouted, “Stop! I think see a snake!”

Of all the comments we hear while on an outing, nothing will bring on the possibility of a rear-end collision faster than that cry. I have driven off the road into ditches and all kinds of weird places to avoid being hit in the rear while complying with, “Stop! I think I saw….”

This was no different. “There! See it?” Miriam said, unfastening her seat belt and lurching out the window.

Yes, there it was — a beautiful specimen of a crosshatched Flexilius robustus crosshatchii (Anderson) lying just off the pavement on the cinders. The reason Miriam spotted it so quickly is that the black variety of Flexilius is much easier to see than the red and brown races.

Inasmuch as the Rubber Road Snake are eyeless and usually run over, they sometimes resemble a flat piece of rubber with a variety of patterns on their back. I must warn you! If you see one fly out from behind a truck, NEVER stop and pick it up! Just stopping on Highway 97 — with or without a snake sighting — will no doubt qualify you for a stern warning from H97WWS.

As you can see in the photo, the specimen Miriam spotted is a healthy adult. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell a male from a female Rubber Road Snake, as they are usually flat by the time we see them.