Re: N.A. elaphe taxonomy

Posted by troy h on February 26, 2001 at 10:26:17:

In Reply to: N.A. elaphe taxonomy posted by Tom Lott on February 24, 2001 at 19:53:39:

actually, leaving bairdi out of my list was an oversight . . . the contact zone between bairdi and obsoleta in central texas is very narrow, and even though there are numerous hybrids around, the two forms don't intergrade into one another in a broad sense like lindheimeri and obsoleta or spiloides do.

i reject collins elevation of emoryi for a variety of reasons:

1) the first time you see "elaphe emoryi" used by collins, it was in "Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas", 1993 - he provides no justification for this elevation, but presumably, the elevation was based on his 1991 paper where he suggests elevating "allopatric populations" which have been accorded subspecific status. since no research was done to fully examine their contact zones and/or their variation, such an elevation is premature and not based on scientific investigation.

2) collins recently justifies his elevation of emoryi using a paper by Vaughan, Dixon, and Thomas (1996) where he cites their paper as his justification for elevating emoryi (note: this paper was published 3 YEARS after he first used the combination "elaphe emoryi") - he states that a map presented in this paper clearly shows that emoryi and guttata are allopatric in texas. however, a look at county records for guttata in texas (Dixon, 2000) shows that there are continuous records for elaphe guttata east to west across central texas.
furthermore, vaughan, dixon, and thomas did not use the combination "elaphe emoryi".

3) finally, my own experience with these snakes suggests that, while there appears to be a disjunction in the range of these snakes along the mississippi river, eastern texas, louisiana, e. oklahoma, arkansas, and se missouri snakes all appear to be intermediate between corns and emoryi (i.e. "kisatchie corns")

troy

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: actually, leaving bairdi out of my list was an oversight . . . the contact zone between bairdi and obsoleta in central texas is very narrow, and even though there are numerous hybrids around, the two forms don't intergrade into one another in a broad sense like lindheimeri and obsoleta or spiloides do. : i reject collins elevation of emoryi for a variety of reasons: : 1) the first time you see "elaphe emoryi" used by collins, it was in "Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas", 1993 - he provides no justification for this elevation, but presumably, the elevation was based on his 1991 paper where he suggests elevating "allopatric populations" which have been accorded subspecific status. since no research was done to fully examine their contact zones and/or their variation, such an elevation is premature and not based on scientific investigation. : 2) collins recently justifies his elevation of emoryi using a paper by Vaughan, Dixon, and Thomas (1996) where he cites their paper as his justification for elevating emoryi (note: this paper was published 3 YEARS after he first used the combination "elaphe emoryi") - he states that a map presented in this paper clearly shows that emoryi and guttata are allopatric in texas. however, a look at county records for guttata in texas (Dixon, 2000) shows that there are continuous records for elaphe guttata east to west across central texas. : furthermore, vaughan, dixon, and thomas did not use the combination "elaphe emoryi". : 3) finally, my own experience with these snakes suggests that, while there appears to be a disjunction in the range of these snakes along the mississippi river, eastern texas, louisiana, e. oklahoma, arkansas, and se missouri snakes all appear to be intermediate between corns and emoryi (i.e. "kisatchie corns") : troy

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