No offense, but to say that because an animal is both cryptically colored and noctural makes Darwinian selection on that animal null and void is a farely ignorant thing to say.
We could begin a list of species that are both cryptic AND nocturnal and NOT EVER have enough room to name them on this forum.
so that theory is well...not scientifically accurate.
Copperheads are often nocturnal throughout their active season. What nocturnal animal is more cryptic than a copperhead within 95% of its range?
Rana catesbeiana are cryptic and more often than not are nocturnal.
Crotalus cerastes typically match the soil color that they are found on and are almost entirely nocturnal.`
Green tree pythons are extremely cryptic and are active at night. There was a herp journal stating that their white dorsal specks resemble bird droppings, making them look like just a green thing on a tree covered in bird droppings. A brilliant theory.
Uroplatus geckos are the most cryptic lizards on earth!!!...and yet they are nocturnal. I think most here could agree with that.
Hemidactylus geckos are very cryptic AND nocturnal.
Hyla cinerea are cryptic and nocturnal.
Xantusia vigilis are extremely cryptic and nocturnal. Maybe that is why they are called night lizards. Just a wild guess on my part. (Catch the sarcasm?)
And the list could go on and on.
So to "balk at" someone's vastly greater knowledge than your own (and mine or anyone else's knowledge on this forum) is a fairly self-damning way of thinking. And the reason it is self-damning is because you're learning stops at that point, until you discover for yourself that through your own misjudgements or miscalculations that that person was right.
I would venture to say that you know very little about Dr. Jack Sites, because he is someone HUGELY respected and known in the herpetological field...NOT the herpetocultural field. Which are two vastly different disciplines(...if you could even call herpetoculture a discipline).
And unlike more than a few people on this forum, he has spent a lifetime looking at things scientifically, as you say.
Look him up. He is heading the ENTIRE squamate section of the Tree of Life Project, which is a worldwide effort. He sits on more Herpetologists' org. boards than I have fingers and toes. He is the herpetologist in charge of cataloging all herps for the state of Utah. He has written paper after paper and named and described species after species.
One thing I do know is that he, of all people mentioned here, knows what he is talking about.
