this guy was seen a few years ago on the road in west texas. not sure what to call it unless its just a clean normal.
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observed
westtexas
Dec 14, 2008 01:59 PM
Replies (5)
sjohn
Dec 14, 2008 06:08 PM
That depends on the locale. There is a rather broad and somewhat ill defined zone of intergradation between affinis and sayi in west Texas. Many of the pits in this area are intergrades with characteristics of both races often resulting in some highly variable and interesting looking snakes. There is a good thread on this topic on the SWCHR site.
This a specimen from central Presidio Co. that is probably best identified as an affinis/sayi intergrade.
This one looks similar to the one posted. This is from the Christmas Mtns. in Brewster Co. and this population is considered to be affinis. However, other specimens from either of these locales can look very different from these individuals...and I have some examples from each of these locales.
Scott John Reptiles
westtexas
Dec 14, 2008 06:44 PM
it was located pretty much right at the cross roads of 118 and 170 (river road). the pic. is not well lit, so its colors were much more vivid/bright yellow in person. (it was actually given to a buddy but the snake ended up not making it). i assumed it was just a regular gopher. guess i dont know much about the integration area. thank you for your response.
daneby
Dec 14, 2008 08:12 PM
a Very pretty snake!
Dan Eby
zhaa
Dec 14, 2008 09:38 PM
here's a similar Sonoran also from the Christmas Mt. area. Crappy picture, but you can see the similarity.
orchidspider
Dec 30, 2008 07:35 PM
It definitely looks like a Sonoran Gopher to me. I keep a lot of bulls and have been really looking into the differences between Sonorans and Bulls, and they do look similar but once you look at enough of em, it gets easier. So I say go with your first guess, a gopher and a very nicely marked one at that!
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