Posted by:
ratsnakehaven
at Fri Oct 20 04:51:16 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ratsnakehaven ]
>>Terry,
>>
>>Yes, that info is from "A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of the United States and Canada East of the 100th Meridian" by Roger Conant, 1958. My old male also beats that 57 inch GPR record at 58 inches. Interesting that you mention record lengths for ssps and locality animals, because Conant has record lengths for all of the ssps listed. He even has the Florida Keys corn variant, rosy rat snake (E.g. rosacea) as a ssp with a record length of 66 inches. The great plains rat is considered a ssp of guttata in this book.
>>
>>-Toby
Hiya, Toby.
I had to buy a new Conant field guide a couple years ago, because I can't find my old one. Hang onto that '58 edition. It's a classic already, imo, and has info that we all could use in the future. I have the third edition, A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians..Eastern/Central North America, 1998, by Roger Conant/Joseph T. Collins. In it they treat the corn snake complex as one species still, but with only two subspecies, Elaphe guttata guttata and E. g. emoryi. For "guttata" they retain the record length of 72", but for "emoryi" they have changed the record length to 60.25" (153 cm.) I think that reflects the move to look at species/subspecies more closely and the fact that more specimens were known at that time. Also, I think an even larger speciman from your area would be considered a new record for emoryi by most, even if we don't consider them emoryi ourselves.
Toby, you said Conant ('58) mentioned a record E. g. rosacea at 66". Does your book mention records for other subspecies? What's the record for E. g. emoryi and E. g. intermontana? Let me know any other ssps they consider, if there are any in the '58 edition. Thanks a bunch and good luck finding "meahllmorum" this Fall in Nueces and beyond....heheheh!
Terry
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RE: Monster Ratsnakes. - ratsnakehaven, Fri Oct 20 04:51:16 2006