Re: Why it's an Elaphe...

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Posted by Terry Cox on December 25, 1999 at 22:33:37:

In Reply to: Why it's an Elaphe... posted by Phil on December 25, 1999 at 18:27:26:

It's probably an Elaphe because the most closely related species are E. bimaculata and E. dione. Thamnophis garter snakes don't exist in East Asia. Just because they are live-bearing doesn't mean they can't be an Elaphe. Some of my dione eggs have hatched in as little as 17 days, and the record is 13 days. It's only a short jump to live-bearing. Other things point to an Elaphe as being the evolutionary ancestor of rufodorsata, probably prompting the original taxonomist to classify it that way. If, however, in the future there is a revision based on characteristics very different from other related Elaphe, then the genus name could change. Someone was right when they said it was a relative thing. That's the way it is with taxonomy, in my humble opinion. Bye-the-way, I just read on the net somewhere that the Asian taxonomy will change again soon due to research being published in Germany.?! Any takers on that one.?

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: It's probably an Elaphe because the most closely related species are E. bimaculata and E. dione. Thamnophis garter snakes don't exist in East Asia. Just because they are live-bearing doesn't mean they can't be an Elaphe. Some of my dione eggs have hatched in as little as 17 days, and the record is 13 days. It's only a short jump to live-bearing. Other things point to an Elaphe as being the evolutionary ancestor of rufodorsata, probably prompting the original taxonomist to classify it that way. If, however, in the future there is a revision based on characteristics very different from other related Elaphe, then the genus name could change. Someone was right when they said it was a relative thing. That's the way it is with taxonomy, in my humble opinion. Bye-the-way, I just read on the net somewhere that the Asian taxonomy will change again soon due to research being published in Germany.?! Any takers on that one.?

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