New genetic and ecological analysis suggests the yellow-bellied kingsnake, Lampropeltis calligaster, found throughout the eastern United States, is actually three distinct species.

The range of the yellow-bellied kingsnake stretches from Nebraska to Virginia in the north and from Texas to Florida in the south.

It's not the first time the yellow-bellied kingsnake has been divided into distinct species. When first discovered, researchers divided the kingsnake among two species. Later, the two species were demoted to subspecies, and a third subspecies was added. Now, scientists have come full circle.

The three species are: Lampropeltis calligaster, found among the prairies west of the Mississippi River; L. rhombomaculata, which prefers the forests east of the Mississippi; and L. occipitolineata, unique to the wet prairies of South Florida.

Perhaps more important than the reclassified names are the insights the yellow-bellied kingsnake has offered biologists. Previously, researchers assumed the Mississippi River served as the driving factor in the diversification of closely related species like the three kingsnake varieties. But the latest analysis suggests ecological niches -- prairie versus forest, for example -- are more significant in terms of driving speciation.

"You go from the forest to the grasslands and voila, you make a different species," Frank Burbrink, an associate curator in the Natural History Museum's herpetology department, explained in a news release.

Burbrink and researcher Alexander McKelvy, from the City University of New York's College of Staten Island, published their findings in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

"Not only have we uncovered multiple species, but we're making steps toward understanding the mechanisms that are generating biodiversity in the United States," Burbrink said. "Even though the U.S. has been explored scientifically for more than 200 years, we still don't fully know what's in our backyard."