Posted by:
Terry Cox
at Sun Sep 12 08:28:58 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Terry Cox ]
This post is a response to Matt Campbell in the strand that’s buried far below now. Follow the link to see that post.
As far as color goes, it could (and probably is) an adaptation to the environment and the behavior of the snake. For instance, consider snakes that are green and their behavior of using camouflage to blend in with their environment. For “blue”, let’s take a look at another snake that is blue, the blue racer of America, Coluber constrictor foxi….
This racer even has the black stripe through the eye that the blue beauty has. This is an example of parallel evolution and I would speculate that the blue color has to do with the behavior of these snakes. Although I’ve never seen a blue beauty in the wild, I’ve seen lots of blue racers at home in Michigan. The racers tend to live in open areas and remain in rodent burrows most of the time. When active they will forage in open areas, such as short grass habitat, and when seeking refuge will go down the nearest hole. Thus, I would theorize that blue beauties have similar behaviors and live in similar habitats.
Actually, I have lived near blue beauty habitat, although I’ve not seen one in the wild. I was stationed in s. Thailand for a year and a half, and the blue's range includes central and northern Thailand. I know that n. Thailand is mostly forested, but there are also vast areas that are savanna-like. I suspect that the snake utilizes open areas in otherwise forested regions, as much as they can. I know they can climb too, but I don’t think they incorporate that as much as, say, the Taiwan beauty.
As far as Vietnam goes, the “blues” actually only enter the western part of North Vietnam, and we’re not even positive of that. The yunnanensis ssps. occupies the central montane area, and mocquardi occupies the eastern plains which connects with s. China. The blue beauty may occupy parts of w. N. Vietnam, but nobody actually goes there, or has observed them there. It is an extremely inaccessible region. We call the “blues”, Vietnamese blue beauties, probably because they are exported from Vietnam, and that may be all we know about them. However, the name seems to have stuck, and now we associate “blue beauty” with those nine ft. monsters that have the blue color.
I think it’s cool that we have this morph and we should produce it in the hobby, but we definitely need more info on where they come from, and what the range of the taeniura ssps. is. We should also realise that there is going to be some natural variation in the ssps. Remember, also, that Schulz’ original three specimens came from Burma and Thailand, none from Vietnam. We need some professional to reevaluate this ssps. and officially describe it. I almost want to get this ssps. Just so I could do some research on it. Breeders should keep as good of records as they can, such as colors, scale counts, and size, not to mention behaviors. Also, try to get locality info, if you can. Hopefully, we’ll gradually gain some very good knowledge of this ssps. and make it a permanent addition to the hobby.
TC
Blue Beauty Strand
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 Discovering the Blues.... - Terry Cox, Sun Sep 12 08:28:58 2004
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