Great point Aaron, but its already proven not to be, thru captive breeding.
The point is still good, its not how these snakes are dark or black, its why that is important. Even striping like San Diego's and Newporter stripers are carried on different genes. Same for banding.
Lastly, how we think of these animals is based on assumption. That is, we have no idea what the original getula looked like, the one that colonized the current habitat. We do know that the conditions then must have been much different then today. It must have been a much wetter grasser habitat. Does that colored animal exist today? There is no reason to think so, as the habitat is complelely different now.
Also a great question would be, how much of what we see today is influenced by man. The draining of marshlands(the black types) The pumping of ground water and farming, etc. have indeed played a role in what colors and patterns we see today.
In this, MBK's were first found just north of Nogales, under a hay bale to be exact by Dr. Lowe and Bill Wooden. The funny part is, Nogales is a staging area for Mexican produce. ITs trucked from farms in Mexico, unloaded from Mexican trucks and reloaded on American trucks, then transported all over the States. Once I found a Cat eyed snake crossing the road in that very area. Thanks for the thoughts Aaron

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