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Posted by dewey on January 26, 2003 at 14:49:31:
In Reply to: Re: Ratsnake ranges... for Dwight especially.... posted by Dwight Good on January 25, 2003 at 22:06:28:
:The way it is now the eastern rat snake includes black, yellows, everglades, and greys. They are all the same. Black rats from Ohio would be different though, they are considered midland rats.
Dwight, you are using the reference EASTERN to include black, yellow, grey, and e-glades. Wouldn't the EASTER black still be the same species as the MIDLAND black, just different ranges? What about the blacks found up in Canada? Where do they fit in? They aren't North American, but they are the same as ours. And what is really the difference in these EASTERN, WESTERN, MIDLAND black rats? Are we looking at them genotypically or phenotypically. If genotype is being looked at, then wouldn't all black rats be different from each other, one way or another? If we look at phenotypes, like the pics showed in the link you posted (the 3 looked very different), then my argument is this...I have gone out and caught many wild black rats in West Central PA. In one season I have had specimens that have been almost all black with little color, some with a lot of white showing, some with yellow, and some with a lot of orange or red. All were caught in the same area, and some even in the same exact spot at the same time.
Maybe I am thinking about this too much. Maybe this is worthless babble. But what I do know is that animals evolve over time. But can they really evolve THAT much in such a short amount of time to be renamed and reclassified? Enough on that for now.
I am heading up to George Miskimmons this week to talk with him on the Blacks around here in Md and his feelings and knowledge on the RUSTY rats. I figure he has been around working with these here in Md longer than I have been herping, so his two cents should be interesting to hear. I will keep ya posted. And by the way, I am working on geting the name and phone number of the farmer in Ohio who had the Leucistic Black on his land AND the guy who caught it. I can't remember the name you gave me a while ago, but I made a call shortly after that and found out that that was definitely not the guy's name. I will have more info this week. Take care all and enjoy the Super Bowl!!
:See Burbrink's paper in Evolution, 54 (6), 2000, pp 2107-2118 for more info.
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