The Status of the Outer Banks Kingsnake, Lampropeltis 

 getulus sticticeps (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) 



Richard M. Blaney 



Department of Biology, West Virginia State 

 College, Institute, West Virginia 25112 



ABSTRACT. — The Outer Banks Kingsnake, described as Lampropeltis 

 getulus sticticeps by Barbour and Engels (1942), is analyzed. Aspects of 

 color pattern, proportions, and scutellation characteristic of L.g. floridana 

 and L.g. getulus are found in this population, with no characteristics 

 unique enough to warrant the status of subspecies. Instead, it should be 

 recognized as a probably relictual, intergrade population. 



The taxonomic status of kingsnakes on the Outer Banks of North 

 Carolina has been a source of controversy since the description of 

 Lampropeltis getulus sticticeps by Barbour and Engels (1942), and its subse- 

 quent relegation to the status of "problematical" by Wright and Wright 

 (1957). During the course of my work on L. getulus (Blaney 1971, 1977), I 

 examined a series of specimens from the Outer Banks that, when com- 

 pared with other material from throughout the range of the species, 

 showed the population to be highly variable and to exhibit characteristics 

 of both L.g. getulus and L.g. floridana. I therefore concluded that it should 

 not receive nomenclatural recognition. These conclusions, data and 

 photographs were provided to J.D. Lazell in 1971 for consideration at his 

 request. However, on the basis of several new specimens, Lazell and 

 Musick (1973) reported that L.g. sticticeps should be regarded a valid sub- 

 species. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the data and reconsider 

 the interpretation of the kingsnake inhabiting the intra-Capes zone. 



That this Outer Banks population is unusual is not at all in question. 

 The unique environment of the area, admirably described by Lazell and 

 Musick (1973), surely contributes to the maintenance of its integrity by 

 isolation. What is in question is the level of differentiation of the popula- 

 tion relative to the species as a whole, and the causes of its distinctiveness. 



Lazell and Musick (1973) described the basic pattern of L.g. sticticeps as 

 "exactly like that of the nominate L.g. getulus: bold white or yellow 

 (usually cream) transverse bars cross the dorsum and are connected 

 laterally," except that in L.g. sticticeps light spotted scales occur in the 

 dark interspaces above scale row eight. They further stated that the spot- 

 ted patterns of L.g. sticticeps and L.g. floridana differ in that "in L.g. 

 floridana the light dorsals in the dark interspaces result primarily from 

 progressive lightening of each dorsal scale basally" while the spots are 



Brimleyana No. 1: 125-128. March 1979. 125 



