The specific name, deppei, is in honor of German artist Ferdinand Deppe, who collected natural history specimens in Mexico.

[3] The subspecific name, jani, is in honor of Italian herpetologist Giorgio Jan.[3] P. deppei occurs in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Tamaulipas.

[2] The preferred natural habitats of P. deppei are forest, shrubland, and grassland, but it is also found in agricultural, suburban, and urban areas.

[1] Dorsally, P. deppei is yellowish tan, with a series of large quadrangular blotches, which are dark brown to black.

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Pituophis.