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Pantherophis obsoletus (SAY, 1823)

IUCN Red List - Pantherophis obsoletus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Lampropeltini, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Rat Snake, Black Rat snake, Pilot Black Snake (obsoleta)
E: Texas Rat Snake (lindheimeri)
E: Yellow Rat Snake (quadrivittata)
E: Everglades Ratsnake (rossalleni)
G: Erdnatter 
SynonymColuber obsoletus SAY 1823: 140
Coluber reticularis DAUDIN 1803 (part., see comment)
Coluber obsoletus HOLBROOK 1842 (fide GARMAN 1884)
Scotophis confinis BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 74
Scotophis laetus BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 77
Georgia obsoleta — BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 158
Scotophis Lindheimerii BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 74
Spilotes obsoletus — GARMAN 1884: 48
Elaphis obsoletus — GARMAN 1884: 54
Elaphis obsoletus var. Lindheimerii — GARMAN 1884: 54
Scotophis lindheimerii — GARMAN 1887: 126
Coluber obsoletus — BOULENGER 1894: 50
Coluber confinis — COPE 1900: 829
Coluber obsoletus — BROWN 1901: 47
Elaphe obsoleta confinis — DUNN 1920: 136
Elaphe obsoleta confinis — FORCE 1928
Elaphe obsoleta confinis — ALLEN 1932
Elaphe obsoleta confinis — BURT 1933
Elaphe obsoleta — BURT 1935
Elaphe obsoleta quadravittata — MEHRTENS 1987 (in error)
Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 197
Elaphe obsoleta lindheimerii CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 199
Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata — PALMER & BRASWELL 1995
Elaphe obsoleta — SCHULZ 1996
Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta — CROTHER 2000: 62
Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri — CROTHER 2000: 62
Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 379
Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 383
Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri — TENNANT & BARTLETT 2000: 388
Pantherophis obsoletus — UTIGER et al. 2002
Elaphe obsoleta — ERNST & ERNST 2003: 115
Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri — SCHMIDT 2004
Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri — HALLMEN 2005
Pantherophis obsoletus — BÖHME 2005
Pantherophis obsoletus — POTTS & COLLINS 2005
Pituophis obsoletus — BURBRINK 2007
Scotophis obsoletus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2008
Pantherophis obsoletus — PYRON & BURBRINK 2009
Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus — MENSE 2010
Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri — LAITA 2013
Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittata — LAITA 2013
Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus — SACHSSE 2014
Pantherophis obsoletus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 529
Pantherophis obsoletus obsoletus — HILLIS 2022
Pantherophis obsoletus quadrivittatus — HILLIS 2022
Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri — HILLIS 2022 
DistributionC USA (west of the Mississippi River from S Louisiana along the Gulf Coast to S Texas, west to C Texas on the Edward’s Plateau, and through Oklahoma, C and E Kansas, SE Nebraska, SE Iowa, and extreme SE Minnesota)(fide BURBRINK 2001, Hammerson 2019, IUCN)

Type locality: “on the Missouri River from the vicinity of Isle au Vache [Cow Island] to Council Bluff” (Say, 1823); restricted to the vicinity of Cow Island, Leavenworth County, Kansas, 39.425296°, -94.962343° (Dowling 1952, Taggart 2021).

lindheimeri: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana. Type locality: “New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ANSP (PM), one specimen 1515 mm, 3 specimens total, present location unknown fide Dowling, 1952b: 4.
Holotype: (lost), paratype: USNM 1734 (skin only); note that USNM 1733 is not a type although some authors said so (see Pyron & Burbrink 2021 for a discussion) [Scotophis lindheimeri] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (682 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentHybrids: BRÖER (1977) reports a hybrid between E. guttata guttata and E. obsoleta quadrivittata. Bechtel & Mountain (1960) report hybrids between Elaphe guttata and E. obsoleta rossaleni. Gibbs et al. (2006) showed with denser sampling that eastern and central lineages exhibit substantial genetic exchange along a northern contact zone within Pantherophis obsoletus s.l. A complete genome of Pantherophis alleghaniensis was shown to be a hybrid of P. obsoletus and P. alleghaniensis (Burbrink et al. 2023).

Distribution: not in Wisconsin (CNAH online, 2010).

Colour images: various subspecies in STANKOWSKI (1986) and SCHWEIGER (1995).

Subspecies: Elaphe obsoleta deckerti and E. o. parallela are not recognized as subspecies any more (CROTHER 2000). BURBRINK (2001) doesn’t recognize any subspecies of E. obsoleta but elevates some of its clades to species status. Illustration of E. o. lindheimeri in SCHMIDT (2004). Hillis 2022 strongly suggested to maintain previously recognized subspecies within P. obsoletus, given that they broadly intergrade, namely obsoletus, lindheimeri, alleghaniensis, quadrivittatus, and spiloides.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Synonymy: Coluber reticularis DAUDIN 1803 is a binomical based on La Cépède (1789) name ‘La réticulaire’, but unavailable because the latter was suppressed by ICZN opinion 1463. See Pyron et al. 2021 for details. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin obsoletus, worn-out, dilapidated; hackneyed; common, ordinary. [“...Body black above, beneath whitish with large subquadrate black spots, which are confluent and pale bluish towards the tail...”]. 
References
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  • Werler, John E. & James R. Dixon 2000. Texas Snakes. University of Texas Press, 544 pages
  • Werning, H. 2009. Florida - ein kleiner herpetologischer Reiseführer. Draco 10 (37): 4-23 - get paper here
  • Wilgers, D.J.; Horne, E.A.; Sandercock, B.K. & Volkmann, A.W. 2006. Effects of rangeland management on community dynamics of the herpetofauna of the Tall-grass Prairie [Flint Hills, Kansas/Oklahoma]. Herpetologica 62 (4): 378-388 - get paper here
 
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As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Pantherophis&species=obsoletus

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