This 08 deserticola was collected from a housing area at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base (between San Diego and LA) last September. Unusual since CP is deep within annectans range. Anyrate, I am most happy with it as it is coloring up to be a very attractive snake. The first image was taken right after I got it in October, 2008. The second image was taken today following its latest shed... Enjoy and thanks for looking. Any thoughts as to locality resemblence (where it may have otherwise originated). That dorsal orange stripe hints at possible annectans corruption but otherwise, very clean, sharp pattern for a deserticola...
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Neat deserticola
Pit_fan
Jul 14, 2009 07:46 PM
Replies (6)
monklet
Jul 15, 2009 09:47 AM
I'm no expert but that is an astounding find. Gotta wonder if it was a releasee? Awesome example of that ssp. too!
Pit_fan
Jul 15, 2009 10:04 AM
I've looked at a lot of deserticola photos posted on this and other forums but have not seen any that match it. In a post from last fall, I hypothesized that a gravid female or (more likely) a clutch of eggs was "moved" via material transport from Twentynine Palms and CP somehow. Don't know the specific circumstances of the find as it was recovered by a friend from CP base security who then gave it to me. I was hoping for an 08 annectans as I live in southern AZ. Can't complain about a deserticola like this one instead though...
SPYiii
Jul 15, 2009 04:41 PM
I personaly think alot of the range maps that we have today need to be revised and many species ranges need to be extended.
Deserticola are some of my favorites and that is one good looking snake.
amazonreptile
Jul 21, 2009 06:24 PM
>>I personaly think alot of the range maps that we have today need to be revised and many species ranges need to be extended.
>>
>>Deserticola are some of my favorites and that is one good looking snake.
But why would a range map be extended to well within the range of another taxa?
san diego gophers go way far east of Pendleton. Clearly they blend into affinis and deserticola at the far east end of the range.
Why would you extend one of those subspecies into the far WEST end of the range? Likely less than a mile from the west edge of the range (high tide line!) Suffice to say deserticola is NOT found naturally in Pendleton. NOT!
On a similar note, I caught a gravid boa constrictor in Covina, CA in 1985. Does this represent a range extension of a new breeding population of common boa constrictor from Colombia to SoCal?
No more so than a range extension of deserticola into coastal (non desert) southern California. Really, Occam's razor tells us it is most likely this boa was someones escaped pet.
Highly likely is someone's assumption that the snake or it's ancestors moved from desert habitat to Pendleton. Perhaps even from the intergrade zone!
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AMAZON REPTILE CENTER
reako45
Jul 17, 2009 03:52 PM
Your theory about it being a 29 Palms "transplant" is a good one. I was out herping 2 nights ago near there, and came across a similar looking 2' juvenile. Unfortunately I have no photo as my camera ran out of memory.
reako45
Pit_fan
Jul 17, 2009 05:16 PM
Thanks,
That area is somewhat beyond my local herping area. If you get the opportunity to get some snaps of any adult deserticola in that area, I would love to see them.
