Posted by:
Sunherp
at Mon Jul 12 15:54:27 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Sunherp ]
Those animals appear to be Lampropeltis leonis (=mexicana "thayeri") X L. ruthveni hybrids, based upon the features I can see in the photo. It also makes sense, since the amelanism mutation in mexicana-complex animals originated in ruthveni. Many captive leonis (thayeri) are not that at all... but are, instead, hybrids. Pure-blooded animals are still found in some collections, though, including a few of the posters on this and other ks.com forums.
This is the same reason I stated that many captive cornsnakes cannot be used as comparisons for ID purposes - a fair number have got genetic material from other Lampropeltines in their nuclei, and thusly having the possibility for a non-standard phenotype.
-Cole
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