Apalachicola Kingsnake (Lampropeltis meansi)
Description: Adults can range from 30 to 56.1 inches. They are characterized by variable coloration patterns with an overall light dorsal coloration and wide or thin banding patterns. However, some striped and patternless specimens have also been identified. The ventral pattern is also variable; some with bicolored, loose checkerboard, or predominantly dark scales. They possess smooth scales and have 21 dorsal scale rows at mid-body.
Habitat: Suitable habitat varies, but their range is quite small. Their habitat includes pinelands, hardwood hammocks, cypress strands, prairies, marshes, and estuaries.
Range: The Apalachicola kingsnake is endemic to Florida, and is only found in the panhandle between the Apalachicola River and Ochlokonee River and south of Telogia Creek. Morphological intermediates are found on both northern and southern ends of the range. These intermediates represent interbreeding between the Apalachicola kingsnake (L. g. meansi) and the eastern kingsnake (L. g getula).
Found in these States:
FL
Diet: Their diet includes snakes, even venomous ones such as the rattlesnake, lizards, amphibians, rodents, birds, and turtle and bird eggs.
Reproduction: Like other kingsnakes, they are oviparous, or egg-laying. Breeding takes place in March, April, and May, and after a month, three to 30 eggs are laid. The eggs hatch in late summer, 65 to 70 days after they have been laid. The hatchlings have an enormous appetite and grow quickly.
Status: This subspecies is not widely recognized. Critically Imperiled due to limited range and corssbredding with the Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropelits getula)
Taxonomy: Up until 2016, Apalachicola Kingsnakes were considered a subspecies of the Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula). The decision to elevate this previous subspecies to a distinct species appears to be widely but not universally accepted.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Scaled Reptiles
»» Suborder: Serpentes
»» Superfamily: Colubroidea
  »» Family: Colubridae - Colubrids
»» Genus: Lampropeltis
»» Species: Lampropeltis meansi - Apalachicola Kingsnake
»» Subspecies: None
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Apalachicola Kingsnake", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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