decided that I really messed that up, so let me rephrase the questions.

1) Do you believe splendida and holbrooki are valid subs?

and the reason I ask.....

The characters that decipher holbrooki from splendida are
a) Black belly in splendida and checkered belly in holbrooki -
this character does not hold up. my Brewster county splendida has a checkered belly.
b) Dorsal scale rows - does not hold up because there is overlap, and other species have proven clinal variation in ventrals and or dorsal scale rows (mexicana, alterna, triangulum)
c) spots on every scale in holbrooki - a variable pattern even on a consistent basis alone is not enough to warrant sub specific status.

I honestly don't know what to believe in regards to splendida and holbrooki being being valid subspecies?? Has mtDNA work been done on the group? As in the Burbrink example it could lead to "lumping" rather than "splitting".

Forky

[ Show Entire Thread ]