Re: New obsoleta taxonomy...yernevergonnabelivethis.

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Posted by Chris H. on May 08, 2001 at 00:39:36:

In Reply to: New obsoleta taxonomy...yernevergonnabelivethis. posted by Ron/Louisville on May 07, 2001 at 17:27:40:

I haven't seen the paper in Evolution yet, but if the changes are accepted and used it brings up an interesting problem for the hobbyists: there are now three species of black rat snakes.

The three "new" species of Rat snake (The Western Rat Snake - E. obsoleta, the Midland Rat Snake - E. sp.?, and the Eastern Rat Snake - E. alleganiensis) all have black morphs in the northern edges of their range. So the "black" rat snake will be no more, or will be three different taxa, or not even taxonomically recognized (most likely scenario).

Another issue will be identifying the ranges of the different mtDNA haplotypes. Museum collections will be of no use, unless someone finds some useful meristic characters to distinguish them.

It will be interesting to see how this is sorted out. My opinion is that this will be very slow to be accepted, if it is fully accepted.

Link to Collins comments on the Evolution paper

Follow Ups:

Re: New obsoleta taxonomy...yernevergonnabelivethis. Hmmm..... 05/08/01 (4)
- But if you breed a snake from NC to one from IL, they are hybrids!/np Chris H. 05/08/01 (2)
  - So what do hobbiest do now? TravisG 05/08/01 (1)
    - Re: So what do hobbiest do now? Matt 05/09/01 (0)
- Still do call 'em chondros... easier than Morelia viridis. :) np GPGirl 05/08/01 (0)

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: I haven't seen the paper in Evolution yet, but if the changes are accepted and used it brings up an interesting problem for the hobbyists: there are now three species of black rat snakes. : The three "new" species of Rat snake (The Western Rat Snake - E. obsoleta, the Midland Rat Snake - E. sp.?, and the Eastern Rat Snake - E. alleganiensis) all have black morphs in the northern edges of their range. So the "black" rat snake will be no more, or will be three different taxa, or not even taxonomically recognized (most likely scenario). : Another issue will be identifying the ranges of the different mtDNA haplotypes. Museum collections will be of no use, unless someone finds some useful meristic characters to distinguish them. : It will be interesting to see how this is sorted out. My opinion is that this will be very slow to be accepted, if it is fully accepted.

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