This species has predominantly olive-brown glossy dorsal scales evolving to black at the tail.

[4] The subspecies D. m. erebennus is predominantly solid black, though there can be lighter shaded variations.

The geographic range of D. melanurus extends from southern Texas southwards through the Gulf Coast of Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize.

On the Pacific coast, its range extends from Sinaloa in Mexico, southward to Guatemala, as far south as Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.

[3][2] Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Drymarchon.