The San Diego mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata pulchra) is a subspecies of nonvenomous colubrid snake endemic to Southern California. Its state-level conservation status is "Species of Special Concern". Description A medium-sized (53–108 cm total length) snake with a distinctive sequence of red, black, and white rings (tricolor dyads: Savage and Slowinski 1990; these are similar, but yet different from the triads of Zweifel 1952b) in which relatively narrow white rings are always bordered by black rings, and red coloration, which can occur as rings or bands, borders alternate black rings (Zweifel 1952b; pers. observ.). Occasional aberrant patterns can be found in which rings are lacking (see Figure 2 in McGurty 1988). The number of tricolor dyads on the body (except the tail) ranges from 27 to 38, and between 15% and 100% of the red rings between body dyads are complete (Zweifel 1952b). The snout is jet black and the iris is very dark brown (B. McGurty, pers. comm.). Citations in this page need to be referenced in the Source list below. Taxonomic remarks The taxonomic remarks made for Lampropeltis zonata parvirubra also apply to this taxon, namely: "This taxon has not been reexamined since Zweifel (1952b) described the races of Lampropeltis zonata. Diagnosis of L. zonata parvirubra is problematic because allocation of individuals to this taxon requires using a combination of several characters simultaneously that individually overlap considerably in variation with other races of L. zonata. Biochemical analyses coupled to more extensive morphological analyses are needed to better understand the systematic status of this taxon. Since individuals of L. z. parvirubra are difficult to obtain (captive snakes notwithstanding), novel techniques such as DNA extraction from preserved specimens will almost certainly be needed to help resolve this problem. DNA analysis was performed on this taxon in 1999 (Rodriguez-Robles, Javier, et al. 1999) and the interpretation of the authors suggests that L. z. pulchra and L. z. parvirubra belong within the same subspecies, and merely represent a clinal variation in pattern from south to north within the range. Interpretation of this taxon as a full species (Collins 1991) is unjustified and awaits the aforementioned analyses." Distribution This California endemic occurs in the Santa Monica Mountains (Los Angeles County); Santa Ana Mountains (Orange and Riverside Counties); Santa Rosa Mountains (Riverside County); and Corte Madera, Cuyamaca, Hot Springs, Laguna, and Palomar Mountain (San Diego County)(McGurty 1988; Figure 44). In reality, this snake is