SONORAN MOUNTAIN KINGSNAKE SEARCH

SONORAN MOUNTAIN KINGSNAKE SEARCH

Great Basin National Park and the Nevada Department of Wildlife are pleased to announce
the fourth annual Nevada Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake surveys. Sonoran Mountain
Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis pyromelana) are rare and extremely secretive in Nevada and
very little is known about their ecology, abundance, distribution, and habitat associations.
Preliminary surveys of L. pyromelana localities in the Great Basin indicate they are
montane, utilizing rocky habitats, between 6,000 and 8,000 feet elevation. They are often
associated with riparian vegetation, Ponderosa pine, oakbrush, piñon
and juniper woodland, and sagebrush. They feed primarily on lizards and small mammals,
and undergo an ontogenetic shift in feeding ecology, switching from lizards as juveniles,
to small mammals as adults. L. pyromelana is a thermo-conformer (its body temperatures
closely tracks its surrounding thermal environment) and spends greater than 90% of its
active season (April-October) under rocks or vegetation. For a desert snake it is found at
relatively cool temperatures (18-22 degrees C). It is a strongly diurnal or crepuscular
species, primarily observed in the Great Basin during May and June, with spikes of surface
activity during the summer monsoon season, and the fall. There are several ways to locate
this species. Flipping (and replacing) rocks and logs, hiking riparian areas and washes at
dawn and dusk when the habitat is in shadow, looking in cracks and crevices with mirrors,
slowly walking the edges of talus and scree looking in the interstitial spaces, and generally
wandering aimlessly through suitable habitat have proven effective methods to locate
Sonoran Mountain Kingsnakes in the Great Basin.

Surveys will begin by 9:00 am on Tuesday, 19 May, and run through the evening of
Sunday, 24 May.

If you are interested in surveying, contact Bryan Hamilton at:

100 Great Basin National Park
Baker, Nevada 89311
(775) 234-7331 x 255
(775) 234-7210 (fax)
bryan_hamilton@nps.gov

Very interesting.
I did not know that the range of pyromelana includes Nevada territory.
Must be the northernmost subspecies - Utah Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis pyromelana infralabialis entering South-Nevada.
I'd like to participate on these survey activities, at least in my mind
Regards
Peter