Pituophis melanoleucus

Pituophis melanoleucus, commonly known as the eastern pine snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. Three subspecies are traditionally recognized as being valid, though taxonomic changes may be occurring.

Pituophis melanoleucus

Benjamin Genter · CC0 · 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
Also called
pine snakePBDB
Sits inside
PituophisPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Pituophis
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Pituophis
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 4.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 4.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 9.4 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 18 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 18 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 14 of 18 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 18 occurrences9.6–9.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.2–8.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.9–8.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.6–8.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.3–7.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.9–7.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.3–6.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.9–6.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.6–6.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.3–5.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.9–5.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.6–5.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.3–5.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.0–4.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.3–990 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence990 ka–660 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences660 ka–330 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences330 ka–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.7 Mya129 ka9.9 Mya0 Mya

18 occurrences of Pituophis melanoleucus 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

18 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

4 formations

Kingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WBidahochi — 35.80°N, 110.10°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°W

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The named rock units Pituophis melanoleucus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Pituophis melanoleucus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Pituophis melanoleucus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

538 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 18 sites for Pituophis melanoleucus, 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

14 references

Each of the 18 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. 2 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 Pituophis melanoleucus

Credit
Benjamin Genter
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
PITUOPHIS MELANOLEUCUS · UMMZ:Herps:240648

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 itPituophis through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Daudin 1803)