Long, large, and speedy. Head and one third of body black, changing to brown leather whip appearance toward tail; rare individuals all black. Belly usually pinkish and mostly unmarked. Juveniles with irregular dark crossbars, fading to uniform tan toward tail. 
Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019
This species is represented by 241 records from 23 sources: 175 museum (
), 0 literature (
), 0 research (
), and 49 observation (
), with 17 additional Trauth et al. (2004) locality points remaining unsourced (
). It has been museum vouchered for 46 of 75 counties (), with 4 additional counties having other forms of reported occurrence (). Years of collection range from 1897 to present.
This species occurs throughout much of the Interior Highlands and most of the South Central Plains. Records are relatively thin from the latter, where it may be less common, and from the central Boston Mountains as a possible artifact of undersampling this area. Two historical records from the Mississippi Alluvial Plain warrant confirmation: west of Paragould, Greene County (ASUMZ 2268 from 1966), and southeast of Pine Bluff, Jefferson/Lincoln County (CM 24583 from 1945).
