"Pantherophis" is a contrived genus, one of the many contrived genera that are morphologically indistinguishable from Elaphe. These genera are being recognized by Utiger et al. because they need many different genera to accomodate the pieces of a chopped up Elaphe, which is a paraphyletic genus. The cladists' destructive, impractical and scientifically untenable disqualification of paraphyletic groups from classifications has resulted in a constant need to recognize contrived, morphologically indistinguishable taxa. Since cladism is popular at present, and since many people simply follow the latest taxnomic proposals, Pantherophis will likely be "widely accepted."



Knowledgeable herpetologists, however, would most likely reject Utiger et al.'s proposal, just as they had rejected Frost and Etheridge's split of the Iguanidae and their lumping of the Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae. Frost and Etheridge's taxonomic proposal, once dubbed "fait accompli", has now been rejected by new taxonomic proposals. A return to the previous arrangement of 3 iguanian families is currently underway since Frost and Etheridge themselves have agreed to undo their lumping of the Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae. It is also just a matter of time before someone will publish a paper rejecting Utiger et al.'s destructive taxonomic proposal.



Unfortunately most people, including most biologists, are not steeped in the fine points of systematics or evolutionary biology. Therefore most people will simply follow the latest taxonomic proposals. For the foreseeable future, there will be taxonomic chaos, as many people will refer to the North American species of Elaphe as "Pantherophis" while others will continue to use the old genus Elaphe, since "Pantherophis," "Pseudelaphe," "Euprepriophis" and the other recently resurrected/erected genera cannot be distinguished morphologically from Elaphe.

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