Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It looked like fun so I put one together
what & where

Ok, here goes. It looks like there are three snakes shown, correct? obviously Pitouphis catenifer is the species. without counting scales I would say that I have seen San diegos that look like the 2nd and 3rd snakes. I would also guess western San Diego county as they are darkish w/o the appearance of affinis or bimaris influence. The first snake seems to have lighter brown almost cocoa saddles which is a trait of the pacific gophers but not a given. This snake also lacks traits that I would associate it with great basin gopher intergrades. Now with that said this post points out a great topic. There are many factors that can confound identification including significant local variation in P. catenifer, there are numerous natural overlaps in mophologic characteristics within these subspecies, there exists a notable zone of natural intergration, and last but not least there and many, many artificial intergrades being sold as one or the other.

I know a fellow who is a bit of a locality pit expert....especially but not restricted to catenifer. this guy never posts but always reads so I expect a call from Trav Mcnasty giving me his educated opinion however it will be too late to save me from myself.

Great post.......was I even close?

Thanks for the challenge, Ginter

Good one & quite tough! Snake 1 = annectens X affinis integrade from somewhere nearborder of their naturally occuring zones... I'm guessing between SD & Imperial counties. Snake 2 = annectens from W. Riverside county. Snake 3 = annectens from San Diego county area.

reako45

All 3 snakes were wild caught from the same 1 mile stretch of road in San Bernardino Co - variation in annectens is awsome