Kenneth L. Williams

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Kenneth Lee Williams is a herpetologist and author of books on the subject of snake biology and classification. He received a degree from Louisiana State University in 1970.[1] Williams has now retired from teaching in the Biology department of Northwestern State University. During his career, he specialized in studying the Milk Snake (Latin: Lampropeltis triangulum.) In 1988 he published a book identifying 25 sub-species of Milk Snakes and which is considered seminal and cited by most papers on Milk Snakes.[2][3]

Together with Hobart Muir Smith, he discovered a new snake species in Mexico in the Geophis genus.[4] They also identified the Southeastern Canyon Lizard subspecies of the Canyon Lizard in 1960. In 1966 he co-discovered the Texas Scarlet Snake. In 1968 he identified Cnemidophorus inornatus paululus, a subspecies of the Little Striped Whiptail.[5] He is also credited with the identification of the following Milk Snake subspecies in 1978: Andean Milksnake,[6] Conant's Milksnake, Honduran Milksnake, Sinaloan Milksnake, Smith's Milksnake, and Stuart's Milksnake.

Williams has concluded from his research that Lampropeltis triangulum temporalis are intermediate between the scarlet kingsnake and the eastern milksnake and that therefore, these so called Coastal Plains phase milksnakes are intergrades and thus not a proper scientific designation.[7][8][3]

[edit] Selected bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Animal Behavior Society Graduate Program Bulletin, 1996. The Animal Behavior Society. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  2. ^ Dongarra, Tony, The Coastal Plains Milksnake; A Case for Temporalis, Chesapeake, VA: Chesapeake Herpetoculture, <http://www.kingsnake.com/chesa/feature/temporalis.htm> 
  3. ^ a b Armstrong, Michael P.; Frymire, David & Zimmerer, Edmund J. (December 2001), “Analysis of sympatric populations of Lampropeltis triangulum syspila and Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides, in western Kentucky and adjacent Tennessee with relation to the taxonomic status of the scarlet kingsnake”, Journal of Herpetology 35 (4): 688-93, ISSN 0022-1511, <http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790e050a2140da939dde29bfd13582719af621eb734dba33044f9d443e023694dc49&fmt=P> 
  4. ^ Smith, Hobart Muir & Williams, Kenneth L. (1966), “A New Snake (Geophis) from Mexico.”, Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society 5 (3) 
  5. ^ Williams, Kenneth L. (March 29, 1968), “A New Subspecies of the Teiid Lizard Cnemidophorus inornatus from México”, Journal of Herpetology 1 (1/4): 21-24, <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-1511%2819680329%291%3A1%2F4%3C21%3AANSOTT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage> 
  6. ^ Bartlett, Richard D.; Ronald G. Markel (2005). Kingsnakes and Milksnakes. Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 82. ISBN 0-7641-2853-1. 
  7. ^ Markel, Ronald G. & Bartlett, Richard D. (1995), Kingsnakes and Milksnakes: Everything about Purchase, Care, Nutrition, Barron's Educational Series, p. 61, ISBN 0812042409 
  8. ^ Williams, Kenneth L. (1988), Systematics and natural history of the American milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum., Milwaukee, WI (USA): Milwaukee Public Museum, <http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?collection=ENV&recid=1964640> 
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