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Pantherophis emoryi (BAIRD & GIRARD, 1853)

IUCN Red List - Pantherophis emoryi - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Lampropeltini, Colubroidea, Serpentes (snakes) 
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Great Plains Rat Snake [emoryi]
G: Präriekornnatter
E: Southern Plains Rat Snake [meahllmorum] 
SynonymScotophis emoryi BAIRD & GIRARD 1853: 157
Scotophis calligaster KENNICOTT 1859: 88
Coluber rhinomegas COPE 1860: 255
Coluber emoryi — COPE 1886: 284
Coluber laetus BOULENGER 1894: 49
Elaphe laeta — TAYLOR 1935: 213
Elaphe laeta intermontanus WOODBURY and WOODBURY 1942: 139
Elaphe quivira BURT 1946: 116 (nomen nudum)
Elaphe guttata emoryi — STEBBINS 1985: 186
Elaphe guttata emoryi — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 196
Elaphe guttata meahllmorum SMITH et al. 1994: 259
Elaphe emoryi — VAUGHAN et al. 1996
Elaphe guttata emoryi — CROTHER 2000: 61
Elaphe guttata meahllmorum — CROTHER 2000: 61
Elaphe emoryi — BURBRINK 2002
Pantherophis emoryi — POTTS & COLLINS 2005
Pantherophis emoryi meahllmorum — COLLINS et al. 2008
Pantherophis emoryi emoryi — SKUBOWSKI 2012
Pantherophis emoryi meahllmorum — SKUBOWSKI 2012
Pantherophis emoryi — CROTHER et al. 2012 
DistributionUSA (SW Illinois, Kansas to SE Colorado and E New Mexico and south through Texas; disjunct areas in NE Utah)
N Mexico (to San Luis Potosí and N Veracruz, Chihuahua, N Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Quéretaro, Jalisco)

meahllmorum: S Texas, Mexico (San Luis Potosí and N Veracruz, Chihuahua, N Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Quéretaro) Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and not in every cases it works well. We are working on it.
 
TypesHolotype: Lost from the United States National Museum collection (Dowling,1951). 
CommentHybridization: Vaughan et al. (1996 Texas Journal of Science 48(1): 175-190) in their detailed study clearly demonstrated that the defined, diagnosed, allopatric population emoryi is a distinct species (see the map on page 185). [from: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~cnaar/serpentes.html]. However, it intergrades with Elaphe guttata guttata in S-Arkansas, NW-Louisiana and adjacent E-Texas (STEBBINS 1985).

Subspecies: Pantherophis emoryi meahllmorum (SMITH et al. 1994) does not appear to be a distinct lineage and was synonymized with emoryi (BURBRINK 2002).

Synonymy partly after BURBRINK 2002.

Description: Compared to other members of the E. guttata complex, E.emoryi is more robust and has a larger head that is distinctly offset from the neck
(Schultz,1996). Adults of this species reach a total length of 80 –150 cm and have 197 –236 ventral scales and 58 –83 subcaudal scales,with 27 –73 dorsal blotches (Schultz,1996).The dorsal ground color is gray,olive, or brown with brown or olive dorsal and lateral blotches with black borders.The pattern on the head is very similar to the other two species,whereas the belly may be only sparsely patterned (particularly in the southern part of the distribution)with small triangular or semi-circular blotches (Schultz,1996). 
References
  • Baird, S. F. and C. Girard. 1853. Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.-Serpents. Smithsonian Inst., Washington, xvi + 172 pp.
  • Blair, Kathleen;Staley, James R., II;Smith, Hobart M. 1993. Elaphe guttata emoryi (Great Plains Rat Snake). USA: Texas Herpetological Review 24 (2): 67 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Buckner, Sandra D.;Franz, Richard 1994. Elaphe guttata (corn snake). Bahamas: Little Bahama Bank Herpetological Review 25 (4): 166 - get paper here
  • Burbrink, F.T. 2002. Phylogeographic analysis of the cornsnake (Elaphe guttata) complex as inferred from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25 (3): 465-476 - get paper here
  • Burkett, Doug; Kamees, Larry; Painter, Charles W. 1998. Geographic Distribution. Elaphe emoryi Herpetological Review 29 (2): 112 - get paper here
  • Chiszar, David; Drew, J. David; Smith, Hobart M. 1992. A range extension of the Great Plains rat snake in eastern Colorado Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 27 (8): 165 - get paper here
  • Cobarrubias, Edgar Flores; Daniel Cruz-Sáenz, and David Lazcano 2012. Notes on the Herpetofauna of Western Mexico 6: Amphibians and Reptiles of Hostotipaquillo, Jalisco, Mexico. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 47(2):21-26 - get paper here
  • Collins, J.T. & Collins, S.L. 2009. A pocket guide to Kansas snakes, 2nd ed. Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, 69 pp.
  • Collins, J.T. & Collins, S.L. 2010. A pocket guide to Kansas snakes, 3rd ed. Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, 69 pp.
  • Collins, Joseph T. & Travis W. Taggart 2008. An alternative classification of the New World Rat Snakes (genus Pantherophis [Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae]). Journal of Kansas Herpetology 26: 16-18 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
  • Cope, E.D. 1860. Catalogue of the Colubridae in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes and descriptions of new species. Part II. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 241-266 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1886. Thirteenth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 23: 271-287 [1885]
  • Crother, B. I. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Herpetogical Circular, No. 29: 1-82
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. SSAR Herpetological Circular 39:1-92
  • Dixon, James R. 2000. Amphibians and reptiles of Texas, second edition. Texas A&M University Press, 421 pp.
  • Dixon, James R. and Julio A. Lemos-Espinal 2010. AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF THE STATE OF QUERETARO, MEXICO. Tlalnepantla UNAM, 428 pp.
  • Dowling, Herndon G. 1951. A taxonomic study of the ratsnakes, genus Elaphe Fitzinger. I. The status of the name Scotophis laetus Baird and Girard (1853) Copeia 1951 (1): 39-44 - get paper here
  • Hart, Sean;Manchester, Sharon 1993. Elaphe guttata emoryi (Great Plains rat snake). USA: Colorado Herpetological Review 24 (4): 156 - get paper here
  • KJ & Lodrigue, K. 2010. The Great Plains Ratsnake. Elaphe emoryi. Reptilia (GB) (69): 44-49 - get paper here
  • Klug, Page E.; Jennifer Fill, and Kimberly A. With 2011. Spatial Ecology of Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris) and Great Plains Rat Snake (Pantherophis emoryi) in a Contiguous Tallgrass-Prairie Landscape Herpetologica Dec 2011, Vol. 67, No. 4: 428-439. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. & Berg, P. 2005. Kornnattern. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 142 pp.
  • Lawson, Dwight P.;Keck, Michael B.;Jennings, W. Bryan 1993. Elaphe guttata (corn snake). USA: Texas Herpetological Review 24 (3): 109 - get paper here
  • Leonard, T. 1994. Elaphe emoryi (Great Plains rat snake). USA: Nebraska Herpetological Review 25 (1): 34 - get paper here
  • Meyer, R.;Nagl, W. 1993. Somatic Polyploidy in Extraembryonic Membranes of the Snake, Elaphe guttata Protoplasma 172 (2-4): 132-135
  • Miller, Brian T.;Miller, Joyce L. 1993. Elaphe guttata guttata (corn snake). USA: Tennessee Herpetological Review 24 (4): 156 - get paper here
  • Potts, George D. & Joseph T. Collins 2005. A CHECKLIST OF THE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF KANSAS. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, 50 pp.
  • Pyron, R.Alexander; Frank T. Burbrink 2009. Neogene diversification and taxonomic stability in the snake tribe Lampropeltini (Serpentes: Colubridae) Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52 (2): 524-529 - get paper here
  • Quijano, Fernando Mendoza; Avila, Ricardo Reyes; Narvaez, Laura Contreras 1998. Geographic Distribution. Elaphe guttata meahllmorum Herpetological Review 29 (2): 112 - get paper here
  • Raymond, L.R., & L.M. Hardy 1983. Taxonomic status of the corn snake Elaphe guttata (Linnaeus) in Louisiana and eastern Texas. Southwestern Naturalist 28 (1):105-107. - get paper here
  • SKUBOWIUS, Bernd 2012. Ein Besuch bei den Präriekornnattern in Texas Terraria Elaphe 2012 (6): 26-30 - get paper here
  • Taggart, Travis W. 1993. Elaphe emoryi (Great Plains Rat Snake). USA: Kansas Herpetological Review 24 (2): 67 - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1935. Arkansas amphibians and reptiles in the Kansas University Museum Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 22 (10): 207-218 - get paper here
  • Thomas, R. A.;Dixon, J. R. 1976. Scale row formulae in Elaphe guttata (Linnaeus) and notes on their interpretation Natural History Miscellanea, The Chicago Academy of Science 195 (January 15): 1-5
  • Thomas, Robert A. 1975. Taxonomic chaos: Elaphe guttata (Linnaeus), a case in point Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 11 (4): 171-176
  • Toepfer, Karen 1993. Elaphe emoryi (Great Plains rat snake). USA: Kansas Herpetological Review 24 (4): 156 - get paper here
  • Valdez Lares, R.; R. Muñiz-Martínez; E.Gadsden; G. Aguirre-León; G. Castañeda-Gaytán; R. Gonzalez-Tr 2013. Checklist of amphibians and reptiles of the state of Durango, México. Check List 9 (4):714-724 - get paper here
  • Vaughan, R. Kathryn; Dixon, James R.; Thomas, Robert A. 1996. A reevaluation of populations of the corn snake Elaphe guttata (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) in Texas Texas Journal of Science 48 (1): 175-190
  • 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
  • Williams, Avery A. 1998. Geographic distribution. Elaphe guttata Herpetological Review 29 (3): 176 - get paper here
  • Woodbury, Angus M.;Woodbury, Dixson M. 1942. Studies of the rat snake, Elaphe laeta, with description of a new subspecies Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 55: 133-142 - get paper here
 
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