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I prograstinated on adding info. to the previous pic. I decided better to repost as it has shifted down the page a ways.

I actually do not know very much about these myself. A breeder I will name at a later date (after I get a response from him that states it is OK to post it that is)had been collecting these gophers from some valley I believe for quite sometime. These are stated to be natural occuring. Question though is what are they exactly? Most say Great Basin. Some say possible intergradation in the area.

I am no expert on gopher locales so only label them in reference to where they were and possibly still are collected. I can tell you this though if they hold true and become what their parents are they could be something to see. I have only seen two pics of adults (of which I do not have)that were of very gold in color with a very clean and well defined pattern.

I am aware several that frequent this forum have some of this stock as well.

In addition, the Great Basin/high desert (3000' altitude, Palmdale, Vegas, etc) is separated from Yorba Linda by a high, cold mountain range.
However, the low desert containing Palm Springs (and Sonoran gophers) has a corridor to Yorba Linda, along interstate 10.
There is an intergrade area from low desert to high without a barrier: Joshua Tree Nat'l Monument.

and with that locale info. it shows that intergration is possible, but regardless, that is one beautiful animal.

np

I've been passing photos of these around for a while now but no one ever brought up the possibility of sonoran influence prior to today. Then again, many times I send pics out without any locale info.

I know VERY litte of the area (range) various gophersnakes inhabit and I appreciate the information on the Great Basins range. It as well has not been mentioned to me prior to today.

Looking forward to seeing what others say after they see the adult pic Ron posted.

Regards, Rich Hebron

man, that is a great looking snake!!!!

Rich,
Here is a pic of one of the parents. Ron

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The Crawl Space

Ron, thanks for including this pic. I could not find any of my copies.

Rich Hebron

That is a beautiful snake. Will you be having any hatchlings like this, this year?

Travis

i do see deserticola influence in this pic........

The Pic Ron posted I would say it has to have some San Diego or Pacific in it because the neck pattern and blothcing . Maybe its pure but I would say it has one or the other in it

The pic Rich posted looks like a Sonoran to me but its hard say because the neck pattern is fuzzy. Right off the bat I thought it was Sonoran but after looking at Rons pic , then looking back at Rich , now I'm not totally sure of that.

Both are beautyful snake . I dont know where that locality located at ! any more info .

thanks jason

had a pair of these hatchlings as well?

Hi Rich
I never had any of those and never heard of that local. Ron sent me a pic of that snake he posted. but I didn't know it was locality animal

jason

The pair of hatchlings that Del Alspaw got last season looked Great Basin with possibly some affinis or annectans influence. I don't know if Del ever took any pics. The area locale that Del had put them right in the zone of deserticola, annectans and the possibilty of affinis.

Terry Parks

Hi Terry
That would explain the different looks from snake to snake , they sure are colorful snakes .
I sound like a natural intergrade . That would be a fun place to go herping.Is that area around or close San Bernardino ?

Thanks for the info and keep me posted on the Black Pines

The area is west of San Bernardino. There are mountains creating a separation between Great Basin and Sonoran, but as someone previously mentioned there is a break that allows gene flow. There is also the ability for San Diego gene flow in this area. I don't know if there is integrating going on or if it was done at an earlier time and so I call it Great Basin with sonoran or San Diego influence. It would be a great area to do some data collecting. If integration was going on then you should be able to see pure great basin and pure sonoran and pure San Diego in this area. These might possibly be an evolved integrade. I've noticed in some of the pics that it might be the hatchlings look Great Basin and then the sonoran and/or San Diego influence begins to show as they grow to adults. What do you think? I'm waiting for the black pine female. She's really huge so I'm waiting.

Terry Parks

It would appear quite a place to herp. I'm becoming so accustomed to swamping it now that we reside in Florida that I would not even know where to begin to look in such habitat.

It would though be nice to see some hills again.

Rich

The problem with the posts regarding "deserticola influence" and "sonoran influence" is that Yorba Linda is firmly within the range of San Diego Gophers. And is surrounded by annectans 360 degrees. Go any direction from this locale and you have standard dark annectans. You really don't see affinis until you get to the colorado desert and desereticola's closest area is the Mojave desert. In between is all annnectans.

Perhaps our poster has a 'relict' population or for some odd reason a genetically isolated one.

FWIW I have collected normal annectans looking animals within the Yorba Linda city limits.

Nice snake indeed.
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