Ed,

...You wrote

"What would you say about this issue if tomorrow scientists announced Brazilians and Peruvians, or Brazilians and Guyanas, are *not* separate subspecies?"



The good folks at Butantan Herp. Institute in Brazil have been working on a revision to all the Rainbow Boas that lumps the Brazilians, Peruvians and Isla Marajos together as one subspecies. It also includes revisions of the other subspecies including making maurus a totally seperate species. I am not sure how far along they are on getting this published but they were working on it last year and were supposed to be ready to publish then. It may already be published and I would not know about it.

Jeff





>>Hey Dave,

>>

>>I don't necessarily disagree with Jeff. I was just wondering

>>why it hasn't been done.

>>

>>Having said that, keep in mind taxonomy is a man-made construct that can change tomorrow. Heck, scientists can't even agree on

>>what constitutes a species, much less a sub-species. (What would

>>you say about this issue if tomorrow scientists announced Brazilians and Peruvians, or Brazilians and Guyanas, are *not* separate subspecies?

>>

>>Just to clarify, my personal opinion is that, as a consumer, my main consideration is how attractive the snake is, along with price. Since Brazilians and Peruvians, to me, are by far the most attractive, I wouldn't want to see rampant cross breeding between them and other less attractive RB's either. But the possibility that there could be some "Brazilian blood" in my Peruvian (or vice versa) would be irrelevant to me. What would matter to me is that the snake is gorgeous. And if I could get it for 1/2 of the price of a lesser looking "pure" Brazilian, all the better.

>>To put it another way, I'd rather have a gorgeous Peruvian/Brazilain mix than a more expensive offspring of two dull Brazilians. In that case, I don't see how such a "mutt" could be a bad thing.

>>

>>

>>>>I'd much rather see the SSP's kept seperate. Yes crosses coud produce something desirable but ultimately could result in "mutt's" that nobody knows what to do with. And without "papers" could make it harder to market babies.

>>-----

>>------

>>Thanks,

>>Ed

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