What makes a Brook’s King snake different from other king snakes?
I’ve looked everywhere and although most sites will tell me why a brooks king is a king, it won’t tell me why its a brooks.
Thanks!
Brook’s king snakes are just color variations of Florida king snakes, thus, Lampropeltis getula floridana followed by "brooksi" in quotations (see scientific names below). When you go on line to compare many Brook’s pis, you will notice that "brooksi" has been dropped by many herps as well.
I can’t find any facts on it, but my assumption is that a fellow named Brook’s thought he found a new species of King. In my cross-referencing I have found that they were/still are considered to be sub-species of the Florida King by some herps. But for the most part, most herps now just consider them color variations. Compare the pics of the Brook’s and The Florida to The Eastern or "Common King" (also in Florida), and its pretty clear that they are the same species.
Brook’s king snake (Lampropeltis getula floridana "brooksi")
http://www.splitrockreptiles.com/htm7/kingsnakes_brooksi_axanthic.html
Florida King snake, Lampropeltis getula floridana
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/fl-guide/Lampropeltisgfloridana.htm
Eastern King Snake, Lampropeltis getula getula
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/fl-guide/Lampropeltisggetula.htm
September 28th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
It has a different scale count than other subspecies of kingsnakes. A snake has the same number of scales when it is a baby as when it is an adult. Diferent species have different numbers of scales, which are unique to that species, as well as the arrangement of the facial and head scales is often different. And of course other factors make it different, such as patterns and geographical range.
References :
September 29th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Brook’s king snakes are just color variations of Florida king snakes, thus, Lampropeltis getula floridana followed by "brooksi" in quotations (see scientific names below). When you go on line to compare many Brook’s pis, you will notice that "brooksi" has been dropped by many herps as well.
I can’t find any facts on it, but my assumption is that a fellow named Brook’s thought he found a new species of King. In my cross-referencing I have found that they were/still are considered to be sub-species of the Florida King by some herps. But for the most part, most herps now just consider them color variations. Compare the pics of the Brook’s and The Florida to The Eastern or "Common King" (also in Florida), and its pretty clear that they are the same species.
Brook’s king snake (Lampropeltis getula floridana "brooksi")
http://www.splitrockreptiles.com/htm7/kingsnakes_brooksi_axanthic.html
Florida King snake, Lampropeltis getula floridana
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/fl-guide/Lampropeltisgfloridana.htm
Eastern King Snake, Lampropeltis getula getula
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/fl-guide/Lampropeltisggetula.htm
References :
Thirty-seven years of wild and captive snake experience in 40+ states and 10 countries. I lived in Florida from four to twenty-six years old, and was an avid collector of snakes for most of those years.