Posted by:
Pit_fan
at Tue Jan 26 05:50:04 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Pit_fan ]
Matt,
In older literature (1960s and earlier), Sonoran's were referred to as gopher bullsnakes. I have one of Hobart Smith's books (Snakes As Pets) published in 1965. There is a nice B/W photo of an adult (obviously Sonoran) that is captioned "the gopher bullsnake" (Pituophis melanoleucus affinis). The subspecies name (affinis) means "related to by marriage" (probably in reference to the bullsnake) and of all the gophers, only the Sonoran occupies range directly adjacent to that of the bullsnake. The contact/intergrade zone between the two snakes is quite long too extending from northern New Mexico, south through west TX into northeastern MX. The confusion among most people persists however. I hear the term "bullsnake" all the time here in south Arizona (even from biologists) when in fact, we are well removed from the nearest (actual) bullsnake population.
Sonoran's just don't get no respect! I suppose that if someone ever develops a monster line of golden/reds with purple or green blotches, Sonoran's would be off to the races. Never could understand why the basic locality Sonoran's are not more popular than they are. I will ALWAYS have at least one...
Jim
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