Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see this often in reptile atlas' and such. What exactly is the "Common Kingsnake" Lampropeltis getula?
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1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
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0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"

The common kingsnake, lampropeltis getula, is a species of kingsnake that is comprised of 7 or 8 sub-species. These sub-species include the eastern kingsnake, the florida kingsnake, the black kingsnake, the speckled kingsnake, the desert kingsnake, the california kingsnake, and the mexican black kingsnake. Depending on who you talk to, they might want to add a few more sub-species like the appalachicola king, etc.. They are the largest kingsnake species and have the largest range. They can be found from New Jersey to Oregon and south into Mexico. Hope this helps.

Greg

They are the largest kingsnake species and have the largest range.

Actually getula isn't the largest kingsnake species. There are records of some of the southern ssp. of triangulum reaching 8 feet in length. There are quite a few 6-7 footers as well. So the big milksnakes of Central and South America are as big or bigger than the eastern populations of the common kingsnake.

And as for range, the milksnake has a much larger range. Common Kings get a little further west into the Pacific coast, but everywhere else, the milks range further (north and south). Common Kings make it down into the central part of the plateau of Mexico within a few hundred miles of the US border. Milksnakes make it down to south America. And it is where they don't overlap with common kings that they get big!
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Yup,soon after I posted, I thought about triangulum. I was also thinking only of the North America, which was a mistake too.

common kingsnakes (L.getula), milksnakes (L.triangulum) they are way diff. you should know that by now.

Phiber was'nt askin about triangulum.

Chris was referring to the fact that I called getula the biggest species of kingsnake, with the biggest range. I was wrong, Chris is right. Triangulum are the biggest species of king, and also have the largest range. Yeah, the original question was about getula, Chris was just politely correcting some misinformation I posted.

Greg

milksnakes are kingsnakes now, my bad.

nm

Do you call your triangulum kingsnakes, just because they share the same genus with getula?

King and Milk are common names and mean nothing. Eastern Milks and Black Milks are about as different as can be but they are both called Milksnakes. If one is thinking of the largest Lampropeltis then its probably L.t.Gaigeae and or L.t.Micropholis with the largest Getula being the Eastern King.

Keith

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common names that mean nothing? Well then that guy is holding a black king,i guess.

The point is that common names are interchangeable and snakes arent recognized by the same thing by everyone. Here in Wisconsin people call Fox Snakes... Pinesnakes and Garters... Grass snakes. The only thing thats universal is the scientific name hence common names are meaningless...and no thats a Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae that he is holding
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that's just another black king but not a getula

From my understanding(which is often wrong!), kingsnakes are all members of the genus lampropeltis. The genus lampropeltis is broken down into the species calligaster, getula, alterna, mexicana, pyromelana, zonata, ruthveni, and triangulum. Triangulum is the only species that doesn't include the word "kingsnake" in it's common name. The common name supposedly came from the fact that farmers often found eastern milks in their barns, and they assumed that the snakes were trying to steal milk from their cows. So as far as common names go, milksnakes are not called kingsnakes, but as far as taxonomy is concerned milksnakes are just as much of a kingsnake as the 7 other species. Just as a cornsnake is a ratsnake even though it doesnt have the word ratsnake in it's common name.

i prefer to consider triangulum a different animal compared to getula even tho they share the same genus. Thanks for a good discusion.

Robert Applegate in his excellent little book "The General Care and Maintenance of Kingsnakes" says, "Milk snakes are members of the large snake family Colubridae that belong to the genus Lampropeltis, making them a subcategory of the kingsnakes (all snakes in the genus lampropeltis are kingsnakes), and to the species triangulum which distinguishes them from other species of kingsnakes."

I can see why you say you dont consider triangulum and getula the same animal, they are different species. Kingsnakes are a genus though, and there are 8 species. Lots of folks dont think of milks as kings because of the common name, but milks bear a striking resemblance to the tri-colored kings like pyros, zonata, and some mexicana like ruthveni (which was originally thought to be a milk) and milk snake phase thayeri. Milksnakes get their own forum here maybe because there are about 25 sub-species. I respect your view that you dont consider them kingsnakes, I guess because of the common name, but in my view they are.

I should say that Applegate's book is called "The General Care and Maintenance of Milk Snakes" not Kingsnakes like I said in my previous post.

I only know of one case where the name "kingsnake" is applied to a Lampropletis triangulum. That is the beautiful US tricolor - the Scarlet Kingsnake - Lampropeltis traingulum elapsoides.
Of course, I might have blinked and missed them being reclassified and given a new scientific name.
Karl

mis-named milksnake, but thanks for reminding me.

they are called kingsnakes. this is what makes a king snake and/or milk the same family. this is my understanding of the group. i may be wrong but is my understanding that they share this common thread.

the scarlet kingsnake L.t.elapsoides, is actually a milksnake(triangulum) but they do share the same genus with the rest of Lampropeltis(zonata, calligaster, pyro, getula, etc.)
Are you gonna be home today?

Thank you all for your answers.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"