Posted by:
scalrtn
at Wed Oct 14 08:43:19 2015 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by scalrtn ]
After a good bit of querying/comparative image scouring, I think I've figured out what my snake's composition is...It's a holbrooki/splendida cross (or typical "intergrade" referencing an "in the wild" counterpart.)
First of all, the orange-pinkish splotches on the belly are not necessarily "typical" holbrooki, but they frequently occur in specimens of that subspecies. The dorsal pattern (minus the presence of all-black saddles) is very splendida-like. The feature that had me most confused are the rows of spots on the sides and underside of the chin and throat. You'll sometimes see this in floridanas, but not in classic holbrookis or "sockhead" splendidas as a matter of course. But they do appear in splendida variants, such as this specimen from Chaves County, New Mexico, which is adjacent to the westernmost part of the holbrooki-splendida intergrade zone:
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