>>I'll e-mail some people in herpetology departments in the state. It sounds pretty rational to me that we'd have to prove that hybrids even exist to begin with.

>>

>>All I have heard in the media about hybrid box turtles are assumptions that they may be interbreeding in the wild, although I have seen no paper proving anything.

>>

>>I'll post what I get in reply.

>>



Wanda I for one would be very interested in what you find out.

I live in the area where T.o.ornata meets up with T.o.luteola & I've often thought there is some interbreeding going on in the wild here. I know some scientists think it's happening here & in other Southwestern areas where the territories meet or crossover.

I have a friend who's the general curator of the Abilene Zoo who told me 2-3 years ago that scientists have been considering doing away with the luteola distinction to call them all ornata because trying to distiguish one from the other is too difficult in many cases. It's just not clear cut for all of them & if they're interbreeding which they could because they aren't that different as say an ornate & 3 toed boxie.



The luteola vs ornate where they seem to be muddled I think is an argument that will go on for years just like the argument on whether or not to continue calling boxies turtle or change that to tortoise.

Anyway please do post when you find out something.. it'll be interesting no matter what.
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PHRatz

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