I have been working on a pit tag study with two montane rattlesnakes, C.willardi and C.lepidus. We have been working them for 18 years.

We have five little ravines, each has its own "population" we know this because in 18 years, not a single animal tagged in one ravine(population) has showed up in another ravine. Consider, these ravines are less then 100 meters apart in some cases.

So by marking hundreds of individuals and recapturing them, they gave us a good idea of the boundries of their populations.

The point is, this is in one small tiny area, not miles or mountain ranges. Just some little side canyons.

We even see different populations within one canyon. Again, by marking them. In my opinion, tagging them causes them to move much farther then untouched naive(non radio or pit tagged) animals.

The point Dobry is trying to make is, the closer we look at these animals, the more we see localize populations that do not normally practice outbreeding. Outbreeding(geneflow) most likely occurs during ODD events like fires, floods, change in climate. Of course, some "other" species may practice outbreeding.

As I mentioned, those with localize pattern types(many kings, corns, etc), most like practice inbreeding, which is why they are locally unique. Those species with a consistant color and pattern over very large areas may practice out breeding. Its kinda common sense. Cheers

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