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Posted by Ophidiophile on October 06, 2002 at 09:57:00:
In Reply to: From what I\'ve heard... posted by meretseger on October 06, 2002 at 05:55:37:
I'll agree with what meretseger said. It's pretty apparent that North American Elaphe are more closely related evolutionarily to Pituophis and Lampropeltis than they are to Asian Elaphe. So why are N. American and Asian ratsnakes in the same genus? In brief, because the taxonomy is screwed up. Keep in mind that taxonomy is a system of pidgeon-holes created by people. The animals in different genera don't know they're not supposed to hybridize and produce fertile offspring according to our taxonomy!
:Your post sounds pretty accurate. They're actually working on this and are planning to move the American Elaphe to a different genus. The Asians would retain the name Elaphe and the Americans would get a different name. They've already moved two former Elaphe from Asia into different genera, Coelognathus and Ooca.. something. Let's hope the new American genus name doesn't sound like a dinosaur :(.
