Quote:
Originally Posted by snowgyre
Mexican kings and black kings that are found in the United States are the same species, Lampropeltis nigra. They used to be L. getula nigra until the taxonomy fully split them from L. getula. The black kingsnake actually has a decently large range in North America, and they can be quite variable in pattern. This is why common names suck, haha. I bet you had a black king.
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This is not accurate. Mexican black kings are nigrita and the black kings are nigra. Their ranges do not touch and they do not have a large range compared to their congeners. The OP sounds like they are describing nigra. Captively produced MBK typically are a solid dark brown/black including their ventrals.