THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Colubridae  

Central Ratsnake
Pantherophis alleghaniensis (Holbrook, 1836)

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See comment under P. obsoletus.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.04.24.21.54.33)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.48 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Ontario
USA: Alabama Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Michigan Mississippi New York Ohio Tennessee Wisconsin

First instance(s) of published English names:
Chicken Snake (Coluber fulviventer: Rafinesque, Constantine S. 1820. Annals of Nature or Annual Synopsis of New Genera and Species of Animals, Plants, and Discoveries in North America. First Annual Number, for 1820. Thomas Smith, Lexington, Kentucky. 16pp.); Pilot Snake (Coluber alleghaniensis: 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.); Pilot Snake (Coluber obsoletus: 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.); Racer (Coluber obsoletus: 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.); Red-headed Coluber (Coluber obsoletus confinis: 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); Racer (Coluber obsoletus confinis: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Pilot Snake (Coluber obsoletus obsoletus: Davis, N. S., and Frank L. Rice. 1883. List of Batrachia and Reptilia of Illinois. Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of Sciences 1(3):25–32); Pilot Snake (Coluber obsoletus obsoletus: Davis, N. S. Jr. and Frank L. Rice. 1883. Descriptive catalogue of North American batrachia and reptilia, found east of Mississippi River. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 1(5):71); Alleghany Black-snake (Coluber obsoletus: 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.); Pilot Snake (Elaphis obsoletus: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); Black Snake (Elaphis obsoletus: Garman, H. 1892. A synopsis of the reptiles and amphibians of Illinois. Illinois Laboratory of Natural History Bulletin 3():215-403); Pilot Snake (Coluber obsoletus: 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 Chicken Snake (Coluber spiloides: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Red-headed Chicken Snake (Coluber spiloides: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46); Pilot Blacksnake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta: Stejneger, Leonhard H. and Thomas Barbour. 1917. A Checklist of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp.); Gray Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta confinis: 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.); Pilot Black Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta: 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.); Pink Rat Snake (Elaphe rosacea: 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.); Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Chicken Snake (Elaphe obsoleta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Pilot Black Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Black Chicken Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Blotched Chicken Snake (Elaphe obsoleta spiloides: 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:
1839 Holbrook, John E. North American Herpetology; or Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. First Edition. Volume 1 (Expanded second version). J. Dobson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 132pp.
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
1996 Dundee, Harold A. Some reallocations of type localities of reptiles and amphibians described from the Major Stephen H. Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, with comments on some of the statements made in the account written by Edwin James.  Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 30:75–89
1997 Prior, Kent A. Conservation biology of Black Rat Snakes: Ecological, demographic, and genetic approaches. Dissertation. Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. 211pp.
2000 Burbrink, Frank T. Systematics of the polymorphic North American rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta). Dissertation. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 202pp.
2000 Burbrink, Frank T., Robin Lawson, and Joseph B. Slowinski. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of the polytypic North American Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta): A critique of the subspecies concept. Evolution 54:2107-2118
2001 Burbrink, Frank T. Systematics of the Eastern Rat Snake complex (Elaphe obsoleta). Herpetological Monographs 15:1-53
2006 Soltis, Douglas E., Ashley B. Morris, Jason S. McLachlan, Paul S. Manos, and Pamela S. Soltis. Comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America. Molecular Ecology 15(14):4261–4293
2007 Burbrink, Frank T. and Robin Lawson. How and when did Old World ratsnakes disperse into the New World? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43:173-189
2008 Collins, Joseph T. and Travis W. Taggart. An alternative classification of the New World rat snakes (genus Pantherophis [Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae]). Journal of Kansas Herpetology (26):16-18
2020 Hillis, David M. The detection and naming of geographic variation within species. Herpetological Review 51(1):52-56
2020 Burbrink, Frank T. Marcelo Gehara, Alexander D. McKelvy, and Edward A. Myers. Resolving spatial complexities of hybridization in the context of the gray zone of speciation in North American ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus complex) Evolution 75(2):260–277
2021 Hillis, David and Wolfgang Wuster. Taxonomy and nomenclature of the Pantherophis obsoletus complex. Herpetological Review 52(1):51–52
2021 Burbrink, Frank T., R. Alexander Pyron, Marcelo Gehara, Alexander D. McKelvy, and Edward A. Myers. The corrected taxonomic history of the North American Ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus Complex), Herpetological Review 53(3):537-547
2022 Hillis, David M. Species, clades, and their relationship to paraphyly and monophyly: Examples from the Pantherophis obsoletus complex. Herpetological Review 53(1):47-53
2023 Burbrink, Frank T., Sean M. Harrington, Dean Bobo, and Edward A. Myers. Considering admixture when producing draft genomes: an example in North American ratsnakes (Pantherophis alleghaniensis/Pantherophis obsoletus) G3 Genes Genomes Genetics 13(10):1-8
2024 Burbrink, Frank T., Edward A. Myers, R. Alexander Pyron. Understanding species limits through the formation of phylogeographic lineages. Ecology and Evolution 14(10):1-18

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Saturday 26 April 2025 23:21 CT