THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Eastern Black Kingsnake
Lampropeltis nigra (Yarrow, 1882)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See comments under L. getula.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.09.21.41.45)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.84 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Ohio Tennessee Virginia West Virginia

First instance(s) of published English names:
King Snake (Ophibolus getulus var. sayi: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Thunder Snake (Ophibolus getulus: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Chain Snake (Ophibolus getulus: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); King Snake (Ophibolus getulus var. sayi: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Ridgway's King Snake (Ophibolus getulus niger: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Chain Snake (Ophibolus getulus: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); King Snake (Ophibolus getulus: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); King-snake (Ophibolus getulus: Hay, Oliver P. 1892. Batrachians and Reptiles of the State of Indiana. Pages 409-624 in 17th Annual Report of the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources, William B. Burford, Printer and Binder, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.); Say's Chain Snake (Ophibolus getulus: Rhoads, Samuel N. 1895. Contributions to the zoology of Tennessee. No. 1, Reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 47():376-407); Chain Snake (Ophibolus getulus sayi: Rhoads, Samuel N. 1895. Contributions to the zoology of Tennessee. No. 1, Reptiles and amphibians. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 47():376-407); Black King snake (Lampropeltis getulus nigra: Schmidt, Karl Peterson and D. D. Davis. 1941. Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada. C.P. Putnam and Sons, New York. 365pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1882 Yarrow, Henry C. Descriptions of new species of reptiles and amphibians in the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 5:438-444
1920 Blanchard, Frank N. A synopsis of the king snakes: Genus Lampropeltis Fitzinger. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (87):1-7
1971 Blaney, Richard M. Systematics of the Common Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getulus (Linnaeus) Dissertation. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge. 137pp.
1972 Baker, Robert J., George A. Mengden, and James J. Bull. Karyotypic studies of thirty-eight species of North American snakes . Copeia 1972(2):257-265
1973 Blaney, Richard M.. Lampropeltis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (150):1-2
1975 Dessauer, Herbert C. and F. Harvey Pough. Geographic variation of blood proteins and the systematics of kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getulus). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 50:9-12
1977 Blaney, Richard M. Systematics of the common kingsnake, Lampropeltis getulus (Linnaeus). Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 19(3-4):47-103
2001 Krysko, Kenneth L. Ecology, conservation, and morphological and molecular systematics of the kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula (Serpentes: Colubridae). Dissertation. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 169pp.
2009 Hubbs, Brian. Common Kingsnakes, a Natural History of Lampropeltis getula. Tricolor Books, Tempe, Arizona. pp.
2009 Pyron, R. Alexander. Systematics and Historical Biogeography of the Lampropeltinine Snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae. Dissertation. City University of New York, College of Staten Island, New York. 135pp.
2009 Pyron, R. Alexander and Frank T. Burbrink. Lineage diversification in a widespread species: Roles for niche divergence and conservatism in the Common Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula. Molecular Ecology 18(16):3443-3457
2009 Pyron, R. Alexander and Frank T. Burbrink. Neogene diversification and taxonomic stability in the snake tribe Lampropeltini (Serpentes: Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52(2):524-529
2009 Pyron, R. Alexander and Frank T. Burbrink. Systematics of the Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula; Serpentes: Colubridae) and the burden of heritage in taxonomy Zootaxa 2241(1):23-32
2017 Krysko, Kenneth L., Leroy P. Nunez, Catherine E. Newman, and Brian W. Bowen. Phylogenetics of Kingsnakes, Lampropeltis getula complex (Serpentes: Colubridae), in Eastern North America. Journal of Heredity 108(3):1-13
2020 Hillis, David M. The detection and naming of geographic variation within species. Herpetological Review 51(1):52-56
2024 Harrington, Sean, Isaac Overcast, Edward A. Myers, and Frank T. Burbrink. Pleistocene glaciation drove shared population coexpansion in eastern North American snakes. Molecular Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17625:e17625

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Sunday 27 April 2025 12:22 CT