>>Hey that king you just posted...does it have side speckling (splendida) or faint rings like a nigritus/yumensis intergrade would....if you have other jpgs of the ventral...please post em
>>
>>Beers...RxR


Well, I don't have a ventral view of that particular snake, but I believe it's the splendida form with side speckling, but the banding is very narrow, only one scale row wide. That is fairly typical of these snakes, btw. I've seen several like that. We even kept one from this trip. I believe the ventrum had lots of black, but some speckling...

The juvies generally look a lot different with a lot more light coloration. Here's another DOR from the same night just down the road a little. I believe this is a yearling...

This is a ventral view of the same snake...

I think most of the kings in the Santa Cruz Valley are intergrades bt. splendida and nigritus. Although some nearly pure black individuals have been found, I don't think there are any pure nigritus on the American side of the border.

Desert Rat
-----
Ratsnake Haven...researching ratsnakes since 1988

Ratsnake Haven Group...an information providing list site.

[ Show Entire Thread ]