THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-snakes)    Colubridae  

Slowinski's Cornsnake
Pantherophis slowinskii (Burbrink, 2002)
PAN-thur-OH-fiss — sloh-WINS-kee-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See comment under P. guttatus (Boundy, Jeff, Frank T. Burbrink, and Sara Ruane. 2025. Squamata (excluding lizards) – Snakes. Pages 38-54 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2024.11.19.15.19.17)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.63 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arkansas Louisiana Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a field biologist who died in the line of duty.
Pantherophis — From Latin panthera (panther) and Greek ophis (ὄφις, “snake”), meaning “panther snake,” likely referencing the animal’s bold pattern and stealthy, predatory behavior.
slowinskii — A patronym honoring Joseph Bruno Slowinski (1962–2001), an American herpetologist who made significant contributions to snake taxonomy and died from a snakebite while conducting fieldwork in Myanmar.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Chicken Snake (Coluber guttatus: Beyer, George. 1900. Louisana herpetology. Proceedings of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists 1897-1899():24-46);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1975 Thomas, Richard A. Taxonomic chaos: Elaphe guttata (Linnaeus), a case in point. Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 11(4):171-176
1983 Raymond, Larry R. and Laurence M. Hardy. Taxonomic status of the corn snake, Elaphe guttata (Linnaeus) (Colubridae), in Louisiana and eastern Texas. Southwestern Naturalist 28(1):105-107
1991 Seigel, Richard A. and Neil B. Ford. Phenotypic plasticity in the reproductive characteristics of an oviparous snake, Elaphe guttata: Implications for life history studies. Herpetologica 47(3):301-307
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Amphibians and reptiles in the upper Mississippi river valley: Systematic and distributional problems. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 66(4):149-152
1994 Smith, Hobart M., David Chiszar, J. R. Staley II, and K. Tepedelen. Populational relationships in the Corn Snake Elaphe guttata (Reptilia: Serpentes). Texas Journal of Science 46:259-292
1994 Smith, Hobart M., D. Chiszar, J. R. Staley and K. Tepedelen. Populational Relationships in the Corn Snake Elaphe guttata (Reptilia, Serpentes). Texas Journal of Science 46(3):259-292
2002 Burbrink, Frank T. Phylogeographic analysis of the Corn Snake (Elaphe guttata) complex as inferred from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25:465-476
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
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: Friday 05 December 2025 16:59 CT