Speckled Racer vs. Desert Kingsnake

Both are dark snakes speckled with yellow; they meet in the brush of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and northeastern Mexico. A: A yellow spot on every scale, green or blue at its base: speckled all over in the Speckled Racer; black, with yellow speckles that often line up in narrow crossbands in the Desert Kingsnake. B: Greenish, with a black stripe behind the eye in the Speckled Racer; black, the lip scales edged or spotted with yellow; no stripe behind the eye in the Desert Kingsnake. The Speckled Racer is slim and very fast, with lightly keeled scales; the kingsnake is stout and shiny, with smooth scales.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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