Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In then field herp forum Dick Bartlett mentioned that in Ernst's new book he re-classified the Outer Banks king as a sub-species again. Has any new research been done that warrants its validity ?

Keith

The Outer Banks Photo and Info page.

Well I live on the outerbanks and they deffinatly are a subspecies of kingsnake due to the fact that they are a mix between and eastern and florida king snake how ever the website link is wrong because the are usually called the oreracoke kingsnake which is an island just south of us that my dad does tours on and that is the place were these snakes are found because they orginated there there is only one way to and from there which is farry which makes it rare to find one on the actual outer banks

Actually many snakes have many common names. Outer Banks King or whatever is fine but most specimens have been found on Hatteras just outside of Hatteras Village. The Florida Kingsnake thing has also been put to rest as Dr. Kenneth Krysko did genetic testing on Outer Banks Kings and found them genetically identical to mainland Eastern Kingsnakes. Sometimes when a snake gets isolated like the Outer Banks King is weird mutations can occur such as speckling between the crossbars. Its how evolution takes place with little mutations here and there. I believe eventually the Outer Banks King would have become genetically different enough to become its own sub-species with time. Now with man there its probably not going to happen. Regardless they are beautiful animals and if you see some animals down in Ocracoke please snap some pics and send them to me for the site .

Keith

I just did a few searches on a biological abstracts search engine and couldn't turn up anything relating to Lampropeltis getula sticticeps newer than a 1979 paper that concludes that they're intergrades not worthy of subspecific status. If any new data's come to light, it'd have to be in a pretty obscure journal not to turn up on the search engine, so I'd guess that Ernst's recognition of the subspecies is simply a matter of his personal opinion...

I also notice that the work you mention by Dr. Krysko doesn't come up... is it still in press?

Patrick Alexander

I believe its included in his paper on Appalachicola Kings.

Keith

Basically it is an argument between Lazell and Blaney. Lazell claims that it is a valid subspecies, but Blany claims, on the basis of color pattern, that it is an intergrade. If DNA evidence shows that it is genetically close to the mainland L. g. getulus, then Blaney lost his argument. IIRC, Lazell also pointed out that the head of this taxon is distinctive. Any resemblance to L. g. floridana would appear to be the result of convergent evolution. While I am at it, I think Blaney is also wrong about L. g. yumensis. Just because a few specimens here and there shows some characteristics of L. g. yumensis does not invalidate this subspecies. Other than these two issues, I think Blaney did a terrific job analyzing geographic variation within L. getulus.