John, if i understand you correctly, you are saying that schrenki range is only known as far south as North korea? If this is the recognized range, that I can say with certainty it is not accurate. Schrenki is found in south korea. Its complete range is uncertain to me at this time but i can easily find at least the general range from a snake collector that I know. I used some of his snakes during the making of the series and he had several schrenki that were collected in the south. I am sure he can shed some light on their range here.

As far as the melanistic form, if i recall correctly, the belly is just as black. I am thinking it is schrenki and not anomala but i have no real basis for this line of thinking. I suppose unless there is a difference in scale count that the only way to confirm it would be the same manner that was used to elevate it to a species, mtDNA.

I plan on doing scale counts this summer to ensure there is in fact no difference.

Only time will tell as to what I can or cannot discover in relation to the various species, ranges, etc. through some field work but I figured it is a good time to try to absorb as much info as possible now while i wait for the snow to clear.

Any links to literature pertaining to any of the s. korean species would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the info,

Don

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