Amur ratsnakes........are there multiple races???

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Posted by Terry Cox on June 19, 2000 at 15:43:37:

My magnificent female Russian Amur rat, E. s. schrencki, which I have on breeding loan from Dave Powell, just got through managing her pre-lay shed. It measured 80 inches, which when adjusted for the stretching of shed skins, would make her a little under 6 feet, I believe. Not only is she big, my other females have ave. bt. 4.5 and 5 ft., she is different in having "very" heavily keeled dorsal scales.

I have questions dealing with subspecies. Because of size differences, and other morphological differences, like the keeled scales, I believe there may be several races of Amur ratsnakes, s. schrencki. I also think the subspecies, E. s. anomala, should be elevated to full species, because of the current trends in taxonomy of snakes, and because of important differences in behavior, ecology, and morphology.

Therefore, my questions are: "Has anyone else noticed differences in the Amur ratsnakes from different locations, i.e., Russia, N. China, and N. Korea?" Does anyone have any opinions on the size of the snakes and the type of scalation of the Amur ratsnakes?? And does anyone else think there are more than one race of Amur rats?

Thanks for any input. TC.

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: My magnificent female Russian Amur rat, E. s. schrencki, which I have on breeding loan from Dave Powell, just got through managing her pre-lay shed. It measured 80 inches, which when adjusted for the stretching of shed skins, would make her a little under 6 feet, I believe. Not only is she big, my other females have ave. bt. 4.5 and 5 ft., she is different in having "very" heavily keeled dorsal scales. : I have questions dealing with subspecies. Because of size differences, and other morphological differences, like the keeled scales, I believe there may be several races of Amur ratsnakes, s. schrencki. I also think the subspecies, E. s. anomala, should be elevated to full species, because of the current trends in taxonomy of snakes, and because of important differences in behavior, ecology, and morphology. : Therefore, my questions are: "Has anyone else noticed differences in the Amur ratsnakes from different locations, i.e., Russia, N. China, and N. Korea?" Does anyone have any opinions on the size of the snakes and the type of scalation of the Amur ratsnakes?? And does anyone else think there are more than one race of Amur rats? : Thanks for any input. TC.

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