NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Desert Kingsnake
Lampropeltis splendida (Baird & Girard, 1853)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The desert kingsnake (Lampropeltis splendida) is a species of kingsnake native to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, United States. It is not venomous, colored yellow and black. The desert kingsnake's diet consists of rodents, lizards, and smaller snakes, including rattlesnakes. They normally grow 3–4 ft long, but have been known to grow up to 6.8 ft. They are docile creatures when confronted by humans. If they do not try to escape, often they "play dead" by flipping over onto their backs and lying motionless. Some who domesticate kingsnakes, such as ranchers, do so in the hopes that the kingsnakes will feed on other snakes, which might present more of a threat. It was previously considered a subspecies of the common kingsnake. The desert kingsnake belongs to the Colubridae family, which is the largest family of snakes in the world.
Wikipedia contributors, Desert kingsnake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:53:19.092845+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lampropeltis splendida (Baird & Girard, 1853)
- Name authority
- (Baird & Girard, 1853)
- Common name
- Desert Kingsnake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Lampropeltis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyColubrinae
- genusLampropeltis
- speciesLampropeltis splendida (Baird & Girard, 1853)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lampropeltis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Honduran milk snakeLampropeltis abnorma (Bocourt, 1886) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Grey-banded KingsnakeLampropeltis alterna (Brown, 1901) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Black Desert Kingsnake [nigrita]Lampropeltis californiae (Blainville, 1835) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Prairie KingsnakeLampropeltis calligaster (Harlan, 1827) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Short-tailed SnakeLampropeltis extenuata (Brown, 1890) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Common KingsnakeLampropeltis getula (Linnaeus, 1766) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Black KingsnakeLampropeltis nigra (Yarrow, 1882) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atlantic Central American MilksnakeLampropeltis polyzona Cope, 1860 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arizona Mountain KingsnakeLampropeltis pyromelana (Cope, 1866) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eastern MilksnakeLampropeltis triangulum (Lacépède, 1789) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican MilksnakeLampropeltis annulata Kennicott, 1860 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican KingsnakeLampropeltis leonis (Günther, 1893) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ophibolus splendidus Baird & Girard, 1853 Baird & Girard, 1853 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lampropeltis&species=splendida Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3S4WB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.