How to Identify the Southern Smooth Snake (Identification Guide)
The Southern Smooth Snake is a slender, glossy-scaled colubrid of southern Europe, identified by its smooth scales, dark eye stripe, and subtly patterned brownish body.
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Key identifying features
The Southern Smooth Snake (Coronella girondica) is recognized by its smooth, glossy scales (unlike the keeled scales of grass snakes), a slender build, and a dark stripe running from the nostril through the eye to the neck, a classic smooth snake field mark.
Coloration & pattern
The dorsal color is typically pale grayish-brown, tan, or light brown, marked with a row of small, indistinct darker brown blotches or spots down the back that can be faint and hard to see at a distance. A dark stripe through the eye is often the most noticeable pattern element. The belly is usually pale, sometimes with faint checkering.
Head, eyes & scales
The head is small and only slightly distinct from the neck, with round pupils and the characteristic dark eye stripe extending from the nostril area backward. Scales are smooth, distinguishing it clearly from grass snakes and vipers, and contributing to a sleek, glossy appearance.
Size & body shape
Adults typically reach 50-70 cm, occasionally slightly longer, with a slender, cylindrical body and a moderate tail length, giving it an overall understated, streamlined build.
Range & habitat where you'll see it
The Southern Smooth Snake occurs across the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, and parts of northwestern Italy, favoring dry, sunny habitats such as scrubland, rocky slopes, stone walls, and open woodland edges.
How to tell it apart from look-alikes
Smooth scales combined with the dark eye stripe reliably separate this species from grass snakes, which have keeled scales and a pale neck collar rather than an eye stripe. Compared to vipers, the Southern Smooth Snake has round rather than vertical pupils and a narrower, less triangular head. It can resemble the related Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca) found further north and at higher elevations, but the Southern Smooth Snake tends to show a paler ground color and a more southerly, lowland distribution.
Frequently asked questions
What is the key field mark of the Southern Smooth Snake?
A dark stripe running from the nostril through the eye to the neck, combined with smooth, glossy scales.
How does it differ from grass snakes?
It has smooth rather than keeled scales and lacks the pale neck collar characteristic of grass snakes.
How large does the Southern Smooth Snake get?
Adults typically reach 50-70 cm, with a slender, streamlined body.
Where is the Southern Smooth Snake found?
It occurs in the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, and northwestern Italy, in dry, sunny scrub and rocky habitats.
How can I tell it from a viper?
It has round pupils and a narrower head, unlike the vertical pupils and broader, triangular head of vipers.