Illinois Natural History Survey - University of Illinois

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Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan) shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only

NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.

Key Characters: Some or all back and side scales black with a small light dot in the center; belly checkered black and yellow; back scales smooth; anal plate not divided.

Similar Species: Racer, rat snake, plainbelly water snake.

Subspecies: Speckled kingsnake, L. g. holbrookii; black kingsnake, L. g. niger.

Description: Large (up to 125 cm TL) glossy black snake with white dot in the center of each scale. In L. g. niger, the small light dots form 40 - 50 narrow crossbands with intervening scales lacking dots.

Habitat: Wooded hills.

Natural History: Mates in spring and lays 8-12 eggs in June in rotting logs or tree stumps. Young hatch in August or early September at 20-30 cm TL. Like many snakes, it is largely nocturnal during summer and more active during the day in spring and autumn. Slow and deliberate in its movements, this is a constricting predator of other reptiles, especially snakes (even venomous ones), lizards and their eggs, birds, and small mammals. Main predators of juveniles are other snakes; main predators of adults are hawks, raccoons, skunks, and opossums.

Status: Locally common in the Shawnee Hills and along the southern Mississippi River bluffs.