Pantherophis guttatus

Using mitochondrial data, Burbrink (2002) found P. guttatus to comprise three distinct lineages, which were elevated to species level. The name P. guttatus was restricted to populations east of the Mississippi River. The populations in western Louisiana and eastern Texas were named P. slowinskii. The subspecies P. g. meahllmorum was not found to be a distinct lineage, and was synonymized with P. emoryi (Crother 2017).

Utiger et al. (2002) examined mtDNA variation in New World and Old World "Elaphe" and determined that North American rat snakes currently included in the genus Elaphe form a monophyletic limeage that is distinct from Old World snakes that also have been regarded as Elaphe. They resurrected the genus Pantherophis for the rat snakes north of Mexico, including the following species: Pantherophis obsoletus (and P. alleghaniensis and P. spiloides, if one recognizes those taxa as species), P. guttatus, P. emoryi, P. vulpinus, P. gloydi, and P. bairdi. Based on mtDNA and nuclear DNA data, Burbrink and Lawson (2007) determined that New World Elaphe are not closely related to Old World Elaphe. While further splitting of Pantherophis has been proposed (Collins and Taggart 2008), the use of Pantherophis has helped stabilize the classification of New World ratsnakes. Thus, Crother (2017) refrain from further division of the genus.

The range extends from southern New Jersey, Maryland, and Kentucky southward to southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and southern Florida (Conant and Collins 1991, Burbrink 2002). Introduced on Grand Cayman Island and Grand Bahama Island (Buckner and Franz 1994) and elsewhere in the Caribbean region (e.g., may be established on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Perry et al. 2003).

This species is represented by a large number of occurrences (subpopulations).

No major threats are known. Habitat destruction is a local threat in some areas, but this species tolerates a fair amount of low intensity habitat alteration.