The milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum; French: Couleuvre tachetée; Spanish: Culebra-real coralillo) is a species of king snake. There are 25 subspecies among the milk snakes, incluing the commonly named scarlet kingsnake (L. t. elapsoides). The subspecies have strikingly different appearance, and many of them have their own common names. Ultimately, this species will probably be split into several separate species. They are distributed from southeastern Canada, through most of the continental United States, to Central America, down to western Ecuador and northern Venezuela of northern South America. They grow 20 to 60 inches (50-152 cm) long.