Nothing new here. One snake species is closely related to another snake species. Really? Hold the presses. That closely related and even not so closely related species carry the same genes is nothing new. The mitochodrial proteins for the electron transport chain in humans are not that different from those in bacteria. Conservation of key genes coding for key processes is common across the animal and plant kingdoms. Fine structure of the genes can be different or similar depending on how closely related the species are, but the genes/loci are frequently the same. This in no way has any relevance though to whether a particular axanthic mutation is the same or different in 2 subspecies of getula. Of course these two subspecies carry the same genes/loci that control color. I would expect that the genetics for color are similar for most if not all snakes. This says nothing about mutations though and mutations tell you nothing about the similarity of the genetics controlling color in different species, unless you first prove that the mutation is the same in both cases. For the vast majority of mutations in herpetoculture we know little to nothing about what is really happening in the snake so cross species/subspecies comparisons are worthless.

In this case I agree with Kerby and others, a pic of a potential axanthic provides little to nothing in the way of evidence of genetics or whether there is even a mutation present.
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Rick Staub

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