kingsnake.com - reptile and amphibian classifieds, breeders, forums, photos, videos and more

return to main index
  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
 
click here for Rodent Pro
This Space Available
3 months for $50.00
Locate a business by name: click to list your business
search the classifieds. buy an account
events by zip code list an event
Search the forums             Search in:
News & Events: Herp Photo of the Day: Blood Python . . . . . . . . . .  "Jawlene" thriving at Gatorland . . . . . . . . . .  Bay Area Herpetological Society Meeting - Dec. 02, 2023 . . . . . . . . . .  All Maryland Reptile Show - Dec. 09, 2023 . . . . . . . . . .  York County Reptile Show - Dec. 10, 2023 . . . . . . . . . .  Northern Virginia Reptile Show - Dec. 16, 2023 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Jan 04, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Jan 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Bay Area Herpetological Society Meeting - Jan 26, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Feb 01, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Feb 17, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Bay Area Herpetological Society Meeting - Feb 23, 2024 . . . . . . . . . . 
ALL Incubators on SALE @ LLLReptile Thru Sunday. CLICK HERE!
Cyber Week Madness - Prices Slashed + Free Ground Shipping on Orders Over $100 at RodentPro.com!

P. ruthveni

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Taxonomy Forum ]

Posted by WW on January 09, 2003 at 13:49:52:

In Reply to: Excellent points... posted by Kenny Wray on January 09, 2003 at 12:00:12:

Looking at the Rodriguez-Robles and de Jesus-Escobar Pituophis phylogeogrpahy paper, it really beats me why ruthveni was ever considered a separate species - it is rooted smack among a bunch of sayi haplotypes.

The morphological paper that first proposed separate species status for ruthveni was deeply flawed in terms of analysis, and, to my mind, does not tell us anything about the status of ruthveni. Bottom line is, there is absolutely no good evidence that ruthveni represents a separate evolutionary lineage on an independent trajectory. Sure, there is a distribution gap and no gene flow, but the same could be said about two populations either side of a major freeway.

The Rodriguez-Robles phylogeography makes a pretty good case for considering melanoleucus as distinct, but sayi is all over the place with catenifer sensu lato. All in all, the two species scenario (four counting deppei and lineaticollis) seems to make the most sense. IMHO.

Cheers,

Wolfgang



Follow Ups:


[ Follow Ups ] [ The Taxonomy Forum ]