In the hobby, "Chihuahuan Mt. King" and "Tarahumara Mt. King" are both the same, L. p. knoblochi. Chihuahuan Mt. King is a bit of a misnomer though as about three quarters of the pyro range in the state of Chihuahua is inhabited by nominate pyro pyro. Tarahumara Mt. King is more accurate for the hobby as the hobby stock originated from two basic localities, Basaseachic and Rancho Mojorachic. This would still be a misnomer in the big picture as knobs may also be found outside of the Sierra Tarahumara in places such as Yecora Sonora.

Types I, II, and III are B.S., that is just what Steve Osborn got out of his stock. The sky is the limit really.

I have seen a good number of wild knobs from Basaseachic, Rancho Mojorachic, La Bufa and several pics from Yecora. Even in the heart of knob range one will find about ten percent (maybe more?) to look no different than nominate pyros in the U.S. By the same token one finds occasional pyros in S.E. Az that can look like a knob from the area between Yecora and Basaseachic, and I would have to say I personally doubt the validity of knoblochi as a subspecies, at least until someone does some DNA to show me otherwise.

But, despite the fact the above pictured would not be in the least unusual for wild knobs, I would guess that they are not pure simply because there has been too much selective breeding of good pure locality stock for the extreme "knob" end of the spectrum, that is, the red bands reduced to blotches mid-dorsally laving the white ground color with black and red speckling on the sides.

Cheers,

CC

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