Pituophis ruthveni

Pituophis ruthveni

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Colubroidea

Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Unikonta Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: ParaHoxozoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Megaclassis: Osteichthyes Cladus: Sarcopterygii Cladus: Rhipidistia Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes Cladus: Elpistostegalia Superclassis: Tetrapoda Cladus: Reptiliomorpha Cladus: Amniota Cladus: Sauropsida Classis: Reptilia Cladus: Eureptilia Cladus: Romeriida Cladus: Diapsida Cladus: Neodiapsida Cladus: Sauria Cladus: Lepidosauromorpha Subclassis: Lepidosauria Ordo: Squamata Subordo: Serpentes Cladus: Caenophidia Superfamilia: Colubroidea

Familia: Colubridae
Subfamilia: Colubrinae
Genus: Pituophis
Species: Pituophis ruthveni

Name

Pituophis ruthveni Stull, 1929

• Holotype: USNM 76278, adult ♂, collected by W.D. Harris on 24 March 1927.
• Type locality: “Longleaf, [Rapides Parrish,] Louisiana”.

Combinations

• Pituophis melanoleucus ruthveni Stull, 1929: 1 [original combination, as subspecies]
• Pituophis catenifer ruthveni — Fugler, 1955: 24 [subsequent combination]
• Pituophis ruthveni — Conant, 1956: 28 [subsequent combination, elevate to species]

Native distribution areas

• United States: west-central Louisiana and extreme east-central Texas.

References

Primary references

• Stull, O.G. 1929. The description of a new subspecies of Pituophis melanoleucus from Louisiana. Occasional papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 205: 1–3. hdl: 2027.42/56644 Reference page. 
• Fugler, C.M. 1955. New locality records for the Louisiana pine snake, Pituophis catenifer ruthveni Stull. Herpetologica 11(1): 24. JSTOR Reference page. 
• Conant, R. 1956. A review of two rare pine snakes from the Gulf Coastal Plain. American Museum Novitates 1781: 1–31. hdl: 2246/5240 Reference page. 

Additional references

• Stull, O.G. 1940. Variations and relationships in the snakes of the genus Pituophis. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 175: 1–225. BHL
• Thomas, R.A., Davis, B.J. & Culbertson, M.R. 1976. Notes on variation and range of the Louisiana pine snake, Pituophis melanoleucus ruthveni Stull (Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae). Journal of Herpetology 10(3): 252–254. DOI: 10.2307/1562989
• Collins, J.T. 1991. Viewpoint: a new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Review 22: 42–43. Reference page. 
• Conant, R. & Collins, J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin: Boston/New York. xx + 450 p.
• Reichling, S.B. 1995. The taxonomic status of the Louisiana Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus ruthveni) and its relevance to the evolutionary species concept. Journal of Herpetology 29(2): 186–198. DOI: 10.2307/1564556 Reference page. 
• Rodríguez-Robles, J.A. & Jesús-Escobar, J.M. de 2000. Molecular systematics of New World gopher, bull, and pinesnakes (Pituophis: Colubridae), a transcontinental species complex. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 14(1): 35–50. DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1999.0698 Reference page. 
• Rudolph, D.C., Burgdorf, S.J., Schaefer, R.R., Conner, R.N. & Maxey, R.W. 2006. Status of Pituophis ruthveni (Louisiana pine snake). Southeastern Naturalist 5(3): 463–472. JSTOR

Links

• Uetz, P., Freed, P., Aguilar, P., Reyes, R., Kudera, F. & Hošek, J. (eds.) 2025. Pituophis ruthveni. The Reptile Database. Accessed on 20 June 2023.
• Hammerson, G.A. 2007. IUCN: Pituophis ruthveni  (Endangered). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2007: e.T63874A12723685. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63874A12723685.en. Accessed on 21 June 2023.

Vernacular names

English: Louisiana Pine Snake