THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Arizona Mountain Kingsnake
Lampropeltis pyromelana (Cope, 1867)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.09.10.22.42.58)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.68 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona Nevada New Mexico Utah

First instance(s) of published English names:
Arizona King Snake (Ophibolus pyrrhomelas: 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); Arizona King Snake (Lampropeltis pyrrhomelas: Stejneger, Leonhard H. 1895. The poisonous snakes of North America. Annual Report of the United States National Museum 1893(2):337-487); Arizona King Snake (Lampropeltis pyromelana: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.); Banded King Snake (Lampropeltis pyromelana: 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.); Arizona Coral King Snake (Lampropeltis pyromelana: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1866 Cope, Edward D. On the reptilia and batrachia of the Sonoran province of the neartic region. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 18:300-314
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
1953 Tanner, Wilmer W. A study of taxonomy and phylogeny of Lampropeltis pyromelana Cope. Great Basin Naturalist 13(1-2):47-66
1973 Blaney, Richard M.. Lampropeltis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (150):1-2
1983 Tanner, Wilmer W. Lampropeltis pyromelana (Cope). Sonoran mountain kingsnake. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (342):1-2
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
2011 Burbrink, Frank T., Helen Yao, Matthew Ingrasci, Robert W. Bryson Jr., Timothy J Guiher, and Sara Ruane. Speciation at the Mogollon Rim in the Arizona Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60(2011):445-454
2014 Crother, Brian I. The bold taxonomic hypotheses of Collins (1991): 23 years later. Herpetological Review 45(2):268-272

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 19 May 2025 18:38 CT