I used Stebbins as the example because he is generally the starting point. His field guide is excellent but certainly not the last word in the finer points of taxonomy. He did publish a more academically thorough and detailed book on western herps but it is quite old at this point. It is my understanding that he dropped many subspecies because new methodologies have yet to be applied to them. My point is that everything I have seen is consistent with Stebbins and I have found nothing that contradicts him. Are there any credible academic sources or researchers who have published definitive criteria in differentiating between the Red-Spotted and Valley Garters using the presence or absence of the lateral stripe? Rossman, Ford and Seigel have placed the Calif Red-Sided and the Red-Spotted under the same subspecies but left fitchi intact. They also seem to indicate the red head is indicative of concinnus. They state that if fitchi have any red at all on the head it would only be on the temporals. They ignore the lateral stripe as a criterion.

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