a good portion of the thayeri in captivity, especially those that originated from an arc between a point north of Doctor arroyo, to a point north of Galeana, and an undetermined radius from these points, are naturally occurring hybrids (this is my opinion, and I do have a mountain of evidence to support it). At this point I wouldn't say if they are interspecific or intra-specific, but I'm leaning towards interspecific.



High levels of variability in a natural population can be indicative of hybridization. Additionally, there are several geographically isolated populations of both leonis (the geographic variant that evolved directly from mexicana mexicana), and something else that we might call thayeri (the annulata mimic from the eastern versant) that EXHIBIT STABLE PHENOTYPES in many geographic locations. The geography in these areas paints a pretty picture as to exactly how this all happened. The list of sympatric species at these locations support the theory that animals from various ecotones were brought together in these geographic locations where the (hybrids) occur. I'm pretty confident the current set of workers will support my theory here, but for CERTAIN we will see changes in the classification of the mexicana group snakes, especially the snakes we call thayeri right now.



Regardless, what we have is what we have and we still need to do everything possible to keep what we have as clean as possible. That includes politely e-mailing these folks and stressing true representation. I think proliferation of hybrids is here and nothing we can do about it except try to make certain every snake is accurately represented.



IMO the presence and proliferation of hybrids will eventually serve to increase the value of the snakes that were bred true by folks like ourselves. In the mean time due diligence is required as well as maintaining several true lines of breeding stock within one's own collection.



Those who truly know these snakes inside and out, natural history, ranges and phenotypes associated with those ranges, scale counts, and research provenance will be fine. Uneducated buyers and sellers are in a heap of trouble in this day and age.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited

Mexicana Group Directory

Photography by Joseph E. Forks

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