Common US snake actually three different species
Wednesday, October 5, 2016 - 11:38
in Biology & Nature
New research reveals that a snake found across a huge swath of the Eastern United States is actually three different species. Published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, analyses of the yellow-bellied kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster) also indicate that diversification of the snake—and possibly of many other vertebrates living on both sides of the Mississippi River—is influenced not by the river itself, as predominately thought, but by the different ecological environments on each side.