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Posted by: WW at Mon Jul 14 03:23:22 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WW ]

>>Does anyone have some information as to whether the genus designation of North American rat snakes as Pantherophis instead of Elaphe is permanent, or just another temporary shift in taxonomy?

Likely to be permanent. The fact that Elaphe, as traditionally conceived, was a grossly artificial assemblage has been an open secret for a long time, as has the fact that the N. American Elaphe are more closely related to things like Lampropeltis and Pituophis than to any Old World Elaphe. The name Elaphe "belongs" with a European species, so acknowledging the two facts outlined above means that the N. American ones need a different genus. This they now have: Pantherophis.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW

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[ Hide Replies ]

name change: Pantherophis - Bulldawger, Sun Jul 13 20:53:52 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - WW, Mon Jul 14 03:23:22 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - CanidMan, Mon Jul 14 14:38:16 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - Jan Grathwohl, Tue Jul 15 05:39:44 2003

I'm not so sure . . . - Tom Lott, Tue Jul 15 15:40:42 2003

You'll know you're getting old... - WW, Wed Jul 16 04:02:55 2003

RE: I'm not so sure . . . - sschind, Wed Jul 16 09:28:50 2003

RE: still being used a lot - RSNewton, Sat Aug 2 17:55:09 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Fri Aug 1 21:30:01 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - WW, Sat Aug 2 05:06:48 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Sat Aug 2 10:49:51 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - paalexan, Sat Aug 2 10:56:12 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Sun Aug 3 12:49:20 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - paalexan, Fri Aug 8 20:09:20 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Mon Aug 11 22:21:01 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - paalexan, Tue Aug 12 01:02:24 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Sat Aug 2 18:43:13 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - Phillip, Mon Jul 21 00:37:59 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - BGF, Mon Jul 21 02:32:38 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - WW, Mon Jul 21 03:38:34 2003

RE: name change: Pantherophis - RSNewton, Tue Aug 5 14:40:13 2003

>> Next topic: R.S. Newton critiques - RichardFHoyer, Tue Jul 22 13:50:12 2003
<< Previous topic: Fox snake classification - sschind, Wed Jul 9 09:33:23 2003

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RE: name change: Pantherophis

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