>>Hi Mark,
>>
>>although I have not personally been to Baja California, I have read tons of literature as well as spent many hours conversing with a couple people/friends who have looked for zonata agalma there. Given the violence that has been going on, which has gotten worse in the last several months beyond the U.S./Mexican border, I don't know that it would be worth the potential threat to life and limb in going down there anytime soon. (Which blew upcoming plans acutally.....)>>

I have been hearing the same thing since the 1980's: Don't go down south because it is getting worse. But, this time it seemed to have gotten a lot worse. Tourism is reportedly down a lot in Tijuana, and some of the businesses catering to tourists there have moved away from border towns to more southerly areas in Mexico. Ironically, it could be much safer in Martir than it is in Tijuana because nobody is fighting drug wars in Martir.

>>My understanding of the Sierra de San Pedro Martir range is that, in great contrast to the disjunct northern range Sierra Juarez mtns, the Martirs are steeper and of higher elevation, as well as much more rugged with some parts being inaccessible altogether. The Martirs are described as eerily quiet and almost absent from life, again in great contrast to the northern Juarez range. So not only are pure Martir agalma extremely hard to find (in pure form) in private collections, but also in their natural environment as well.>>

According to mtDNA data, these snakes have been genetically isolated from the Juarez agalma for a long period of time. It would probably take some research to figure out what happened geologically to effect the isolation and therein probably lies the answer to why this range is so relatively quiet. Perhaps past volcanism may have something to do with it. Birds may not want to fly across inhospitable terrain hoping to find suitable habitat, for example, even though they an easily make the trip. They won't fly there because they don't know if there is suitable habitat at the end of the trip. Reptiles and amphibians are of course more limited in their ability to disperse. So, once the native wildlife has been decimated by, say, volcanism, it may take a long time for wildlife on an isolated mountain range to recover.

>>I'd also recommend some reading on the studies of Javier Rodriguez-Robles and Rick Staub as well as perusing Hubb's book.>>

Read the Rodriguez-Robles paper. It is easily one of the most illuminating sources of zonata evolutionary history ever published. Solved a lot of disputes as far as I am concerned. For example, the data shows that Mt. Hamilton zonata is actually a Trans Valley leak, and its closest relatives are from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east, not multifasciata to the west. It is probably not a multifasciata x multicincta intergrade either. South of Mt. Hamilton, however, the snakes are pure multifasciata. L. z. zonata, on the other hand, is probably a L. z. multifasciata x L. z. multicincta intergrade. In fact, there is one population of pure multifasciata in Oregon, while the rest of the populations north of the San Francisco Bay have pretty much been overtaken by multicincta, which came down from the Sierra Nevada to virtually eliminate more ancient L. z. multifasciata mtDNA haplotypes that were present in the area. About the only remaining evidence of the past presence of multifasciata north of the SF Bay are snakes that have more red than is typical of L. z. multicincta. These snakes were considered zonata x multicincta intergrades by Zweifel, but they are actually multifasciata x multicincta intergrades, because "zonata" has multicincta mtDNA haplotypes but multifasciata phenotypes (except for the multicincta-like black snout).

>>I know that senor Paul Lynum also lurks this forum now and then (hiya Paul....lol) and maybe he'd like to chime in as he has spent countless hours in Baja as well, thus being able to provide much more detailed information than I ever could.
>>When the Federales and the traffickers-amongst-eachother finally stop warring, I might eventually be able to give more detail in the future. I'll try not to hold my breath on that one.
>>-----
>>Jerry Kruse

For ordinary tourists, it is probably not very dangerous, although the threat of kidnapping and robbery, not to mention police corruption, are very real. I think the only danger from the drug wars for tourists would be getting caught in the cross fire. As Paul Lynum says, it is probably not worth the risk to bring some back. After all, Martir agalma is still agalma, and although it is genetically isolated from Juarez agalma, it has not changed in appearance much over the years. The mtDNA may be very different, but the snakes don't look very different. It is not like knoblochi, which has a drastically different look. Martir agalma is still just agalma.

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