Scarlet kingsnake

Scarlet kingsnake
Adult Lampropeltis elapsoides in Florida
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Lampropeltis
Species:
L. elapsoides
Binomial name
Lampropeltis elapsoides
(Holbrook, 1838)
Synonyms
  • Coluber elapsoides Holbrook, 1838
  • Osceola elapsoidea — Cope, 1900
  • Lampropeltis elapsoides
    — Stejneger & Barbour, 1917[2]
  • Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides — Conant & Collins, 1991
  • Lampropeltis elapsoides
    — Pyron & Burbrink, 2009[3]

The scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides) is a species of kingsnake found in the southeastern and eastern portions of the United States.[4] Like all kingsnakes, they are nonvenomous. They are found in pine flatwoods,[5] hydric hammocks, pine savannas, mesic pine-oak forests, prairies, cultivated fields, and a variety of suburban habitats; not unusually, people find scarlet kingsnakes in their swimming pools, especially during the spring. Until recently, and for much of the 20th century, scarlet kingsnakes were considered a subspecies of the milk snake; however, Pyron and Bubrink[6] demonstrated the phylogenetic distinction of this species and its closer relationship to the mountain kingsnakes of the southwestern United States. These largely fossorial snakes are the smallest of all the species within the genus Lampropeltis, usually ranging from 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) at maturity. The maximum recorded length is in Jonesboro, AR 76.2 cm (30.0 in). Hatchlings range in size from 8 to 18 cm (3.1 to 7.1 in). [7]

  1. ^ Hammerson, G.A. (2019). "Lampropeltis elapsoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T67662850A67662876. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T67662850A67662876.en. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  2. ^ Stejneger, Leonhard; Barbour, Thomas. 1917. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 125 pp. (Lampropeltis elapsoides, p. 88).
  3. ^ The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ^ Willson, J (2023-10-19). "Scarlet Kingsnake / Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum)". Archived from the original on 2023-08-17.
  5. ^ Armstrong, Michael P.; Frymire, David; Zimmerer, Edmund J. (December 2001), "Analysis of sympatric populations of Lampropeltis triangulum syspila and Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides, in western Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee with relation to the taxonomic status of the scarlet kingsnake", Journal of Herpetology, 35 (4), Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles: 688–93, doi:10.2307/1565915, ISSN 0022-1511, JSTOR 1565915
  6. ^ Pyron, R.A.; Burbrink, F.T. (2009), "Neogene diversification and taxonomic stability in the snake tribe Lampropeltini Serpentes: Colubridae", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 52 (2): 524–529, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.02.008, PMID 19236930, archived from the original on 2011-10-06
  7. ^ " "Lakewood Ranch Snake Removal | Nuisance Wildlife Control and Removal Lakewood Ranch Snake Trapping | Lakewood Ranch Animal Control Trapping Removal Service | Attic Repair and Restoration in Lakewood Ranch | Wildlife Trapper".