Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The Juno Road was a hoppin' night before last. Saw the following......super nice 24" male annulata(DOR :0( ), coral snake, pictigaster, alterna, ornate whipsnake 5' , blacktail rattler. All alive except the annulata.

Hwy 131 between Brackettville and Eagle Pass last night...12 checkered garters, five ribbon snakes - all alive. Two atrox including one 55" both DOR and one annulata(DOR) and it must have been there a day or two cause it was a wafer !

Or you could just post the picture of the Alterna..

Lance

I'd like to see that myself, as I was near there and saw only a splashed splendida between Spofford and Eagle Pass, and a splashed T. horned lizard between Eagle Pass and El Indio, with a live Great Plains skink flipped near El Indio. I passed through between 10:00 and 12:00, looked at the tornado damage and donated some water, so maybe the cleaning crew got there before me, but I didn't see any hawks or caracaras working in that area. Got me a pict on Juno though, waaay too many ringtails on 277 saw 12 civets on 277 and 90.
Todd Hughes

Also, what is an ornate whipsnake?
Todd Hughes

>>Also, what is an ornate whipsnake?
>> Todd Hughes
>>

M. t. girardi - IIRC it used to be M. t. ornatus

cenrtal Texas whip? Don't have the guide handy.
Todd Hughes

Sorry for the confusion.....it was/is a stripped whipsnake. I just always called them ornate because I tohught thatiswhat they used to be called. As for a pic of the alterna, my digi cam was stolen a few weeksago. Pics will come when I get it replaced.

Sorry for the confusion.....it was/is a stripped whipsnake.

The Ornate Whipsnake (Masticophis taeniatus ornatus) is still a valid subspecies of the Striped Whipsnake, AFAIK.

By the way, it is "striped" whipsnake, not a "stripped" whipsnake. I always laugh when people talk about finding "strippers" under boards in San Diego. That must be a real surprise!
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

ornatus and girardi both refer to the Central Texas Whipsnake (same snake). I don't know which is more recent, though I suspect it is girardi. Which is valid?

...according to the Committee on Standard English and Scientific Names (Brian I. Crother, Chair)the current accepted nomenclature is: Masticophis taeniatus (Hollowell, 1852)--Striped Whipsnake; M. t. ornatus (Biard & Girard, 1853)--Central Texas Whipsnake; M. t. taeniatus (Hallowell, 1852)--Desert Striped Whipsnake.

any idea why so many sources refer to M. t. girardi? Besides the fact that Baird and Girard discovered it, I wonder how and when that name was introduced?

All I can tell you is that since the original description, M. taeniatus has been reviewed by Parker (1982, Cat. Am. Amphib. Rept. 304; includes M. schotti) and more recently by Camper (1997, Cat. Am. Amphib. Rept. 639, which lead to the current nomenclature and sunk previous subspecific assignments. The CSESN committee has reviewed scientific and standard English names of all amphibians and reptiles in North America and Mexico to standardize them, especially English common names. This has been officially recognized and adopted by the SSAR, ASIH, and the Herpetologist's League. When writing professionally, this listing is what I am required to use, however be aware that other nomenclature my persist for some time.

Probably Parker 1982. Tennant used it in 1984 and again in 1997.
Then Dixon and Werler used it 2000.

I'm glad we have the standardization, now it would be nice if everyone used it (myself included).