CK:
I do not frequent this forum often because most of the threads are well be my understanding of the concepts mentioned, the terminology all due to my lack of background in these areas.

, However,I believe I understand the major thrust of your thread. The example of the Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) may represent a situation similar to your position dealing with the concept of 'budding'. If I understand correctly, this is where a parental type continues to persist but has given rise to a different form that adapted to a set of environmental conditions somewhat different from where the parental stock exists or in which the parental stock could not successfully compete with the new form.

In the case of C. bottae, there are two rather distinct size morphs with a dwarf form found in the extreme southern part of the species' range and a larger morph that occupies the remainder of the species' range in N. Am. Since 1995 when I confirmed the existence of the dwarf form in the San Bernardino Mts., questions naturally arose as to the origins of both forms C. bottae. There of course exists a variety of possibilities. For a variety of considerations, it seemed more reasonable that the large morph arose from a dwarf form of C. bottae. Just recently and independent of my assessment, an individual that goes by R.S. Newton that occasionally frequents these forums came to the same position using a somewhat different set of reasoning.

With C. bottae, I do not believe we have reached the point in which two distinct species (more likely subspecies) are present but nevertheless, there is some chance that the C. bottae example would conform to the 'budding' concept rather than the two forms arising from a common ancestor that is now extinct. Of course, this is all speculation and the latter scenario is still an option to be considered. But I tend to agree with your thesis in that evolutionary processes have undoubtedly used every conceivable manner in which to produce new forms and rejecting or the excluding of any of these pathways would seem unwise.

Richard F. Hoyer

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