Matt,



Thanks for the info.



I'm no expert, more of a theoretician, but I don't think any experts are going to chime in on this. I just don't think there's enough info available, and most breeders are probably going by what they've been told by previous owner or importer. That said, I do think the blue beauty is different, both in color and size and scalation from other subspecies. I don't know why there hasn't been more published on this. But for now I think we have to treat it as just a "morph", according to the desired characteristics. I think the "bluish" colored ones are the prettiest



PS: It's possible there are three ssps. in N. Vietnam, mocquardi, yunnanensis, and taeniura ssp. Mocquardi inhabits the low lying coastal plain in the east, yunnanensis is in the central/northern mountains, and taeniura ssp. probably inhabits the lower montane areas of nw. N.Vietnam. I don't think the "blues" are intergrades bt. yunnanensis and mocquardi, but probably are a new subspecies that hasn't been described well enough yet to be classified.



Terry

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