Lampropeltis holbrooki STEJNEGER, 1902
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Lampropeltis holbrooki
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Lampropeltini, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Speckled Kingsnake G: Holbrooks Königsnatter |
| Synonym | Lampropeltis getula holbrooki STEJNEGER 1902: 152 Lampropeltis getulus holbrooki — ALLEN 1932 Lampropeltis getulus holbrooki — BURT 1935 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki — CROTHER 2000: 64 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 421 Lampropeltis holbrooki — PYRON & BURBRINK 2009 Lampropeltis holbrooki — CROTHER et al. 2012 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki — LAITA 2013 Lampropeltis holbrooki — WALLACH et al. 2014: 358 Lampropeltis holbrooki — KRYSKO et al. 2017 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki — GUYER et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | USA (S Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma; isolated record in NW Kentucky. Intergrades with splendida from Nebraska to Texas) Type Locality: ‘Valley of the Mississippi’ (Holbrook 1842), restricted to Hot Springs, Arkansas (Schmidt 1953). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: unknown (fide PYRON & BURBRINK 2009). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The Speckled Kingsnake (L. holbrooki) is a medium- to large-bodied constrictor with a maximum adult size of 183cm and a mean adult range of 90–122cm (Conant & Collins 1998). Scales are smooth, anal plate single, and midbody scale rows number 19–25 (Blaney 1977). Ventral scales number 197– 222 in both sexes, with subcaudals ranging from 46–59 in males and 37–51 in females (Blanchard 1921; Blaney 1977). The Speckled Kingsnake occurs west of the Mississippi River, from Iowa and Nebraska in the north to the Gulf Coast, and west to west-central Texas (Fig. 2). The majority of the range of L. holbrooki is characterized by the ‘speckled’ pattern, which consists of a black ground color, with a white or yellow speckle in the center of each scale, and very occasionally a faint trace of dorsal crossbanding (Fig. 3). Large geographical areas harboring at least superficial morphological intermediacy between the Speckled Kingsnake and the Desert lineage in west central Texas are apparently inhabited only by the Speckled Kingsnake, suggesting that such color pattern variation may be due to phenotypic responses to ecological gradation, rather than hybridization or introgression (Pyron & Burbrink 2009c). The precise western extent of the range of L. holbrooki is unclear, but ecological niche modeling predicts that the range extends approximately to the Pecos and Rio Grande River drainages (see Fig. 4 in Pyron & Burbrink 2009c; Fig. 2) [from PYRON & BURBRINK 2009]. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Stejneger’s name is a new name for Holbrook’s Coronella sayi, as he explains: “A new name must be given to Holbrook's Coronella sayi, and I propose to call it Lampropeltis holbrooki. The name was originally proposed by Holbrook under the misapprehension that it was the species previously described by Schlegel ag Coluber sayi. Holbrook [1842: 99] expressly calls the species "Coronella sayi - Schlegel;" in the synonymy he quotes Coluber sayi, Schlegel. Phys. des Serp., tom. II, p. 157;" and at the end of the article (p. 101) he says: "Schlegel was the first naturalist who published a description of this beautiful animal, in his excellent work entitled Essai sur la Physionomie de Serpens." Schlegel's Coluber sayi, however, is an entirely different snake, viz, Pituophis sayi, and Holbrook's misapplication of the name given by Schlegel is consequently inadmissible for the present species. This principle is recognized by all codes of nomenclature, and I need not specifically quote the A. O. U. Code, Canon XXXIII.” (Stejneger 1902: 153) Distribution: see map in Krysko et al. 2017: Figure 1. |
| Etymology | Specific epithet is a patronym honoring John Edwards Holbrook, a prominent American herpetologist of the 19th century, known as the ‘father of North American Herpetology’. |
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