Ivan, I found Chengdu. It's the capital of Sichuan Province.

The reason I was having trouble is because I thought you meant it was near the Yangzte R. and near the coast, like close to Shanghai. I believe this part of Sichuan is pretty mountainous and pretty far west. There wouldn't be any bimaculata there, for instance. Also, the central Chinese dione I was talking about come from the central plains area near the Yellow River.

As far as bimaculata and dione hybridizing, I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I believe there are some morphological differences, as well as genetic differences. I also think their ranges don't overlap very much. I meant before that dione was montane in China, not elsewhere. I think bimaculata inhabits the Yangtze Valley and dione inhabits the mountains north of it, one of the reasons its distribution is spotty. I think bimaculata is subtropical and somewhat fossorial, compared to dione, which is more terrestrial. Bimaculata is also a smaller snake, relatively. I doubt that they would hybridize in the wild.

Hope this is good info for discussion. I'm leaving for a trip tomorrow morning, but will be happy to discuss it more when I return in a week. Locality info would be greatly appreciated. Anyone who is interested feel free to contact me at tmcox(at)ratsnakehaven.com. Thanks.

Terry

PS: Ivan, do you have any pics of your hybrid bimac x dione?



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