Slowinski's Corn Snake
Overview
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
in the genus Elaphe
Elaphe
Elaphe is one of the main genera of the rat snakes, which are found in many regions of the northern hemisphere. Elaphe are medium to large constrictors by nature....
indigenous to Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
.
This snake was long considered an intergrade subspecies of the Corn Snake
Corn Snake
The Corn Snake , or Red Rat Snake, is a North American species of Rat Snake that subdues its small prey by constriction. The name "Corn Snake" is a holdover from the days when southern farmers stored harvested ears of corn in a wood frame or log building called a crib...
(Elaphe guttata) and Great Plains Rat Snake
Great Plains Rat Snake
The Great Plains Rat Snake is a species of non-venomous rat snake native to the eastern two thirds of the United States, from New Jersey to Nebraska, to Colorado, south to Texas, and into northern Mexico. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the corn snake, which is commonly kept as a pet...
(Elaphe emoryi), but it has recently been elevated to species status and named to honor the memory of Joseph Bruno Slowinski
Joseph Bruno Slowinski
Joseph Bruno "Joe" Slowinski, Ph.D was an American herpetologist who worked extensively with elapid snakes.He was born on November 15, 1962 in New York City, New York...
. These three sister-species are probably best delineated in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
by simply consulting a range map, given that their ranges in the state do not overlap.
However, not all herpetologists consider the new species status as valid.
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