Lampropeltis

Kingsnakes are colubrid New World members of the genus Lampropeltis, which includes 26 species. Among these, about 45 subspecies are recognized. They are nonvenomous and ophiophagous in diet.

Lampropeltis

en:User:Dawson · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ColubrinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 16.3 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 18 of 74 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 74 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 46 of 74 occurrencesPleistocene17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.5–9.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.0–8.4 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences8.4–7.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.8–7.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences6.2–5.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.6–5.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.0–4.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.5–3.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.9–3.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.4–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences2.2–1.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.7–1.1 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.1–560 ka Mya — about 9 occurrences560 ka–0 Mya — about 26 occurrences12.5 Mya11.7 ka16.8 Mya0 Mya

74 occurrences of Lampropeltis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

74 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

16 formations

Kingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 42.63°N, 100.05°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WLong Pine — 42.38°N, 98.23°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WBidahochi — 35.80°N, 110.10°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WFort Randall — 43.53°N, 99.13°WOgallala — 39.08°N, 99.75°WGoleta — 19.70°N, 101.12°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WWood Mountain — 49.17°N, 105.99°W

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The named rock units Lampropeltis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 38 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lampropeltis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lampropeltis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,281 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 56 sites for Lampropeltis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

44 references

Each of the 74 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 32 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Lampropeltis

Credit
en:User:Dawson
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Lampropeltis pyromelana · UMMZ:herps:239368

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itColubrinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fitzinger 1843