Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is the intergrade(Eastern Milk X Scarlet King) my friend and i caught in Bedford County, Virginia back in September.

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/1003/0672.jpeg

greg

Greg did you guys ever get a shed in for DNA testing on that snake. Would be interesting to see exactly what it is.

my friend is sending a skin to George Harper at UNC to check it out.

Looks like mostly scarlet king could just be a variation.

I have never seen a Coastal Plain Milk snake with that much black on the head. The location it was found at is outside of the known suposed intergration zone, but pure Scarlet kings are know from the area just east of there.My guess is that you have found a new area of range extention for the scarlet king snake in Southern Virginia.

Downwardspiral

the only inconsistency with this snake, compared to a true Scarlet King, is the belly. note how the rings do not encircle the body. rather, the black bands just encroach on the edges of the belly.

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sorry!!! had to reload the picture.

another shot. underside of tail showing how rings encircle at this point.

Greg that ventral pattern really isn't all that uncommon. In my limited experience inland forms are more prone to that pattern. My hypo scarlet doesnt have a single red triad crossing the ventner.

I hope you do get some dna tests on this guy. I don't think you can base your theory on pattern alone. There must be more.. I have found and hatched out some with completely white bellies. A population near Orlando is known for the white bellies and there are certainly no easterns there. Keep us informed on your findings. A beauty regardless.
:Mark

Just on a side note, the work of establishing captive breeding populations from many COUNTY "locality types" has not really been pushed along much in the last few years.....I hope that using this forum can help people find possible mates (for breeding loans)for difficult to find locales. I think all too often really interesting specimens are either held back from breeding completely(by those locality purists)or simply crossed into "established" lines. SO, besides this one male(and arent they almost always MALES,LOL!) what else exists within this phenotype?? Besides the following:
Ocean and Atlantic Co NJ's
St.Marys, Calvert, and the rarer Charles and Wicomico's in MD
Tyrell co NC's
Va beach AREA specimens
On a related subject, please understand the value placed on rare locale Coastal's for us into them....a trust must be well established to let out prized specimens on loan,learn from my example,LOL!
Lastly, if you have a RARE locale and it isnt somewhere near your backyard it would be beneficial to post at least a TOWN of capture for those of us that travel to find the little red buggers!! Thanks,Jeff