All corrections
Wikipedia July 23, 2026 at 07:12 PM

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_snake

2 corrections found

1
Claim
Lacépède, 1788
Correction

The authority year for Lampropeltis triangulum is 1789, not 1788.

Full reasoning

Major taxonomic references list the species as Lampropeltis triangulum (Lacépède, 1789), not 1788. ITIS explicitly notes that 1788 is a common miscitation and explains why: Lacepède's snakes were published in volume 2 (1789), not in the 1788 volume. The Reptile Database also uses 1789 for both the species name and the original combination Coluber triangulum.

Because the article gives "Lacépède, 1788" for this taxon, that date is incorrect.

2 sources
2
Claim
24 subspecies, see text
Correction

Current taxonomic references do not recognize 24 valid subspecies of Lampropeltis triangulum; that count is outdated.

Full reasoning

The infobox presents "24 subspecies" as the current subspecies count, but current authoritative taxonomic sources do not support that.

  • The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service taxonomic tree for Lampropeltis triangulum shows Subspecies: 0 under the species.
  • The Reptile Database lists only two subspecies under Lampropeltis triangulum: L. t. syspila and L. t. triangulum.

Taxonomic treatments differ on the exact modern arrangement, but these current references agree that 24 is not the accepted present-day count. So presenting the species as having 24 subspecies is outdated and misleading.

2 sources
Model: OPENAI_GPT_5 Prompt: v1.16.0