Hi Doug,..



Yeah, genuine Specks(holbrooki) can also have lots of degrees of variation with bars, without bars, combinations of both, and even VERY speckled individuals can have a hint of cross-bar pattern to their scheme many times, it just depends on where they are caught in their very large range, and as you know, many can also be 100 percent speckled on every single scale with zero hint of pattern too.



where that top one is from in southeast Kansas tends to be genuinely pure, but if you go very far from that towards the west, there is a huge intergrade zone where it meets with splendida. All of Missouri is speckled territory, and one third of eastern Kansas is as well, but beyond the 1/3 mark into Missouri, they can become influenced with splendida. That guy looks real good to me as far as it's purity, but even certain intergrades can start to look very similar depending on the pecentages of influence from either they contain.



The other pic further down of the splendida with the sockhead looks genuine splendida as well, even though it's a tad darker than some, and in the very far southeastern corner of the state, they can also run into an intergrade zone as well with a couple different things being in the geneflow.



And the pics below that are certainly pure speckleds as well, and even a nice Red Mole(rhombomaculata) too..LOL!



Anyway, I thought I would toss in my two-cents on what it is anyway..LOL!





later bro!, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

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