John, some good points about the taxonomy. I'm glad you have an interest in it, otherwise I might not have anyone to talk to about it...LOL! I feel kinda the same about Gonyosoma and Coelognathus being placed in the racer clade. The bootstrap support isn't great, and I think it's a little premature. I think they could be related to the ratsnakes and the racers.

Why Coronella has never been imported into the U. S., I'm not sure. Maybe they are just protected everywhere they exist, or maybe they're just really hard to find. When you think about it, the U. S. exports lots of species to Europe, but hardly anything is imported from there. I certainly have never seen or heard of any Coronella (two spp., correct?)

I do know a guy that herps a lot in various European countries and has an account on Webshots. His name is Konrad Mebert, and here is a smooth snake (Coronella spp.) that he photographed, which you can also see at Webshots. You may need to make an account there to see his page...


I don't have very much info on Coronella, but believe there are two species, austriaca and girandica(sp?). I think one of these spp. is live-bearing. I believe they are montane snakes also, as opposed to lowland, wetland-dwelling rufos. They are fairly small snakes which probably feed on small prey, maybe reptiles, amphibians, and newborn rodents.

Since I now know they are ratsnakes, I'll probably have a little more interest in them...

Terry

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