Posted by:
Terry Cox
at Sat Jan 22 08:56:51 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Terry Cox ]
>>This is a pic of my two new ratsnakes or cornsnakes. At first these were thought to be pure Emoryi, but they look nothing like any Emoryi I have seen. They have a cream ground color, different head pattern and brown blotches. Their belly pattern is not solid white as expected with such light coloration. It is actually speckled much like a cornsnake.
>>Let me know what you guys think about them. I know I posted pics of these once, but I am not convinced to what they are.
>>Thanks all,
>>John Lassiter
>>
John, I have seen both, supposedly, emoryi and slowinskii that look like that. The problem is, I think, that you're in an area where the three subspecies are close to coming together. Also, if those are young snakes 03 or 04, they could still have their juvenile colors, which means they may be lighter than typical adults. It would be nice if we knew exactly where they came from, which county anyway.
Our understanding of the taxonomy of TX guttatus is evolving slowly over the past few yrs, but is getting there eventually (I wish Vaughan, et al, would make their next publication). At first many thought there was no area of intergradation bt. emoryi and slowinskii (corn), and they could be treated as separate species, but today it's starting to look like there's a wide area of intergradation, at least bt. meahllmorum and slowinskii. There's also a very wide area of intergradation bt. meahllmorum and emoryi.
I've never seen slowinskii in person, and only a few photos. I know there's some folks working with w/c specimens, like Chris Harrison, and I hope he logs onto this thread. But I think your snakes, John, look a lot like juvenile slowinskii, maybe with some meahllmorum influence. Maybe they came from the zone bt. Corpus Christi and Port Lavaca, where little is known, and where you thought you saw intergrades there. Chances of us seeing specimens posted from that area are probably pretty thin, but it might help shed some light on the subject. Wish I could post pics of my own, but all I have is couple that others have posted.
PS: You could try moving this thread to the taxonomy forum and seeing if anyone would help there. Keep us posted....
PPS: Could you post that pic of the belly pattern again?
Terry
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Ratsnake Haven: Calico and hypo Chinese beauty snakes, Mandarin ratsnakes, Chinese twin-spotted ratsnakes, South Korean Dione's ratsnake, Great Plains ratsnakes and corns 
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RE: New pic of my newly acquired unidentified ratsnakes? cornsnakes?... - Terry Cox, Sat Jan 22 08:56:51 2005