Pituophis melanoleucus
species of reptile
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.
Taxonomy and etymology
The pine snake, Pituophis melanoleucus, gets its specific name from the Latin roots melano- meaning black and leucus meaning white. This is in reference to its black-and-white body. Following an influential study that occurred in 2000, three subspecies of Pituophis melanoleucus have been recognized:
Nominate subspecies P. m. melanoleucus (Daudin, 1803), the northern pine snake;
P. m. lodingi Blanchard, 1924, the black pine snake; and
P. m. mugitus Barbour, 1921, the Florida pine snake.
The subspecific name lodingi is in honor of Danish-born amateur herpetologist Peder Henry Löding (1869–1942), who lived in Alabama.
“Pituophis melanoleucus” enters the record as species of reptile. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pituophis, melanoleucus and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1663774. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000, 1803, 1924 and 1921.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pituophis melanoleucus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.