R.J.Russell theorizes that floridana are descendents of a primitive splendida type that traversed exposed land from the west(mexico?) to the east (florida) then rising sea-levels due to melting glacier isolated the primitive splendida in florida which led to the evolution of floridana, i suppose i'll believe this until i'm convinced otherwise, opinions anyone?
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
How about this theory????
JETZEN
Aug 19, 2006 02:21 PM
Replies (3)
FunkyRes
Aug 19, 2006 02:34 PM
I don't know, but I like the theory posted a little while back - that as easterns moved south, some "bad boy" rat snakes hat their way with them altering the gene pool of the region.
It's probably the use of the phrase "bad boy" that makes me like it.
-----
3.0 WC; 0.2 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata
JETZEN
Aug 19, 2006 02:54 PM
I don't believe ancestral easterns moved south but actually moved east how could they move south when the bad boy "BROOKSI" were moving north up the florida penn. Well they actually did merge in the middle of florida and produced a cool mix.
Upscale
Aug 19, 2006 04:32 PM
Ha ha that was my theory back then. I can’t believe you remembered that now, I just posted a similar theory for that Mosaic down below! Actually, as far as the origins of that go, we all know from field collecting that snakes are often found in pairs. I believe they use scent trails to locate each other, and instinctively rationalize that a good trail leads to good feeding and survival. Every adult snake equals success. Go “that way” and you have a good shot at reaching adulthood too. It is something I always imagined, that a kingsnake grabbing and killing a rat snake would be musked and reak of it’s victim for awhile after. Exactly what we mimic when trying to trick a rat to breed with a king, or vice versa. Could be that sometimes in nature this happens and snakes get their signals crossed and they breed with each other. I believe it happens. I do believe the DNA mapping will someday prove all these snakes are very closely related anyway, so who knows, maybe a Mosaic having a little pine snake in them is possible. I am pretty open to just about any theory out there. Nature is just so unpredictable. We say “no way!” and nature says,”way!”.
