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Wildlife Spotlight: Apalachicola
kingsnake
© D. Bruce Means
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The population of kingsnakes inhabiting the eastern Apalachicola lowlands has
fewer and wider light body crossbands than neighboring populations. In
an article in Contemporary Herpetology, D. Bruce Means and Kenneth L.
Krysko propose that the population "evolved in isolation on a barrier
island or the coastal strand of a peninsula during one of the many higher
stands of the sea during the Pleistocene." They argue that light-colored
patterns would have conveyed adaptive advantages on sandy coasts. The
snakes would be seen less easily by predators and would be less likely
to overheat on the bright white sands.
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