A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

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California Kingsnake - Lampropeltis californiae
Page 2 - Naturally-Occurring Aberrant Morphs

(= Lampropeltis getula californiae)

Range of California Kingsnake: Red and Dark Blue
Range of Naturally-occurring Aberrant Morphs: Dark Blue

Pictures and information about this species and its habitat have been put on three pages: Page 1, the main page, includes pictures of the more common banded form of the California Kingsnake, a range map, a species description and natural history information, references, and links to more information. Page 2, this page, illustrates some other naturally-occurring pattern types and aberrant patterns found in the wild (not aberrant morphs created by breeders.) The titled sections are not intended to be a definitive illustration of California Kingsnake morphs, they are just a way to sort the pictures of aberrant kingsnakes that have been sent to me. (For a more in-depth account of the morphs, see the Brian Hubbs book below.) Page 3 shows some of the wide variety of habitats utilized by this snake.
In his 2009 book, "Common Kingsnakes, A Natural History of Lampropeltis getula", Brian Hubbs includes a list of more than 30 prominent aberrant color patterns found in California Kingsnakes. The morph names used here are mostly based on this book. The range map shown to the left shows in dark blue the approximate location where most of the aberrant morphs are typically found in southern California and where the "Delta" and "Eiseni" morphs are found in northern California. This map is based on the maps shown in Brian Hubbs' book. For much more information about these morphs, including lots more pictures, descriptions, and more detailed range maps, please consult the book.
San Diego Striped Morphs, and Variations

San Diego Striped morph, coastal San Diego County	San Diego Striped morph, coastal San Diego County		Juvenile San Diego "Highway Stripe" morph, Riverside County. © Cody Merrylees

A Stripe-Blotch-Stripe morph from San Diego County.			Juvenile Stripe-Band-Stripe morph, San Diego County © Kyle McCann

Adult, Riverside "Dotted" morph, Riverside County. © Ross Padilla		Adult, Riverside "Dotted" morph, Riverside County. © Adam Helbert	Adult, Striped morph, Riverside County.© Adam Helbert

A San Diego Striped morph adult patrolling a thin strip of vegetation on a bluff 140 feet above a San Diego County beach.	Hypomelanistic San Diego Striped morph from San Diego County © Michael McCormick.	This striped morph California Kingsnake was found in a park in Chico, Butte County, not far from where a non-native Corn Snake was found a month later. The striped pattern is not typically found in Butte County. It is more typical of snakes found near the coast in San Diego County. Therefore I assume that this, like the Corn Snake, was an abandoned pet, probably one bred in captivity. © Kurt Geiger	These two San Diego striped morph adults and a brown and yellow banded morph adult were all found together in Orange County © Dan Wells

San Diego Striped morph juvenile, San Diego County © Dan Wells	San Diego Striped morph adult, San Diego County © Dan Wells	Highway dash ("dotted") morph adult, San Diego County found by Daniel Bryan © Dan Wells

Typical Newport-Long Beach Morphs and Variations
Typical Newport-Long Beach morphs found along the coast of Los Angeles and Orange Counties are threatened with extinction from continual loss of habitat due to land development.

Typical Newport-Long Beach morph found by Brian Hinds in Irvine, Orange County, California. Photo © Brian Hubbs Notice that on the typical Newport-Long Beach morph the top of the tail is always dark past the vent.	Bright yellow, typical Newport-Long Beach morph found in coastal Los Angeles County by Robert Edwards. Photo © Brian Hubbs	Adult Newport-Long Beach morph Orange County © Ivan Vershynin	A juvenile Newport-Long Beach "Barred" morph from San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, discovered by Brian Hubbs and Brian Hinds, 2/19/06. Photo © Brian Hinds

A juvenile Newport-Long Beach "Scrambled Banded" morph, wild-caught in coastal Los Angeles County. The belly is all yellow with no hint of brown or black. © Josh Rosenstein		A Newport-Long Beach "Barred" morph from western Riverside County. © Ross Padilla

Whittier "Mud" morph, coastal Los Angeles County. It's different from the typical Newport-Long Beach morph in that it has markings on top of the tail, different head markings, and a solid black belly © Don Huffman	Newport morph, Orange County © Dan Wells

Eiseni Morphs

Adult from the Central Valley in Merced County © Holly Lane

Valley Phase morph, Fresno County © Patrick Briggs	Dark underside of Valley Phase morph, Madera County © Patrick Briggs	An adult, Central Valley Black-bellied "Eiseni" Morph, Fresno County © David Tobler

Speckled Morphs

Adult "Speckled" or "Washboard" morph, Fresno County. Specimen courtesy of Brian Hubbs © Patrick Briggs	Adult, with light speckling, Yolo County © John Stephenson

Delta Morphs

Delta morph adult male, Yolo County. © Gary Nafis Specimen courtesy of Rick Staub			Delta morph juvenile, Yolo County © Rick Staub

This Delta morph adult was found found just east of the coast range hills in the tiny part of the Central Valley that is in Alameda County. © Zachary Lim			Delta Aberrant morph, Stanislaus county. © Brian Hubbs

Delta aberrant morph adult, Merced County © Emile Bado			Left: adult Pacific Gophersnake Right: adult delta aberrant morph Merced County © Emile Bado

Delta Banded Morphs


Delta banded morph, Yolo County © Zachary Lim	Golden-Brown Black-belly morph adult, Sutter County © Richard Porter

Adult, Golden Brown Black-belly morph, Yolo County © Dave Feliz		Golden-Brown Black-belly morph juvenile, Sutter County © Richard Porter	Golden-Brown Black-belly morph juvenile, Sutter County © Richard Porter

Golden-Brown Black-belly morph adult, Sutter County © Richard Porter	Delta Banded Brown-belly morph, San Joaquin county © Brian Hubbs	San Joaquin banded black-belly morph, Merced County © Emile Bado

San Joaquin banded black-belly morph, Merced County © Emile Bado

Aberrant Banded Morphs

This juvenile from coastal Los Angeles County has a very high band count, with 48 bands. © 2005 Brian Hubbs	A hypomelanistic Banded morph from Whitewater, Riverside County, along with a darker snake which is a more typical example of the Banded morph kingsnakes from the same area. © Ross Padilla	Melanistic Banded morph, Butte County © Brian Hubbs	Narrow-banded Coastal Los Angeles morph, Los Angeles County. © Don Huffman

Adult, Yuma morph, Imperial County © Joe Bouvier	Adult, Yuma morph, Pima County, Arizona © Tim Burkhardt	Adult with "Zipper" pattern, Los Angeles County. © Byron De Stouet	Melanistic Long Beach morph from Long Beach, CA, an increasingly rare find within a shrinking urban range. Commonly called "grease kings," these snakes may cease to exist in the wild very soon if developers keep bulldozing all the remaining habitat in the urban Long Beach area. The snake was rescued from imminent slaughter due to habitat destruction and photographed by Brian Hubbs. It is now part of a growing breeding colony designed to preserve this melanistic trait.

Adult with a high band count and strong yellow markings, Yolo County. © Richard Porter

Partially-scaleless juvenile, found by Lauren Powell in San Diego County © Dan Wells Notice the lack of smooth scales that are normally found on the skin.

Adult with irregular bands, San Diego County © Marcus Rehrman

Miscellaneous Morphs and Possible Hybrids

75 percent Blotched morph, San Diego County. © Alexus Cazares		95 percent Blotched morph, Riverside County. (Striped morph on top of the picture on the right.) © Cody Merrylees

Aberrant morph, Orange County © Ivan Vershynin	This "Lavender Phase" king snake was found wild in creosote bush plains in Kern County. © Amy Patten.

This juvenile was found in the wild in Orange County. It is thought to be a mix of a California Kingsnake and a Desert Kingsnake, which not found in Orange County, making the snake a probable released pet. © Brian Nann	This strange looking snake is probably a cross between a California Kingsnake and a Pacific Gophersnake. It was found in the wild in Yolo County by Steven Hinds. Photo © 2005 Brian Hubbs	This aberrant California Kingsnake was observed in the Santa Monica Mountains in Ventura County, near a public parking lot, so it's not possible to know if it's a wild snake or an unwanted pet someone dumped in the wild. Albino kingsnakes are common in the pet trade, but this one has dark eyes so it is probably leucistic. © Mark Kroenke

Normal Banded Morph Snakes and California Kingsnake Habitats

Go to Page 1 to see pictures of the more common banded form of the California Kingsnake, plus a range map, a species description and natural history information, references, and links to more information.	Go to Page 3 to see pictures of some of the wide variety of habitats used by California Kingsnakes.
Short Videos of Aberrant Morph Kingsnakes (Videos of Banded Kingsnakes Here)

A Striped morph California Kingsnake crawls across a dirt road in the afternoon in San Diego County.	A disgruntled kingsnake rears up in a partially-coiled defensive posture, strikes repeatedly at the photographer, then races off a rock to get away.	A distressed San Diego County California Kingsnake vibrates its tail.	Click to see a YouTube video of this snake shaking its tail defensively and making a rattling sound.