I was having a discussion on the ratsnake forum and I made a pretty safe statement to the effect that the variation in western foxsnake (vulpina) appearnace is relatively wide but that eastern foxsnakes (gloydi) were pretty uniform in appearance. I then wondered if the vulpina that most closely resembled gloydi were the ones that inhabited habitat that most closely corresponded to the Great Lakes habitat that gloydi inhabit while the vulpina in different environments would diverge the most in appearance. Bill McGighan replied that the Field Notes and Observation forum might be a good source for first hand accounts to test this assertion of mine. So just to get the ball rolling I'll attach photos of a male cb vulpina from southeast MN stock and a male cb gloydi from a Toledo OH bloodline for comparison. If anyone has any info, photos or thoughts on this they'd be greatly appreciated.
Regards
John Firneno
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Call for locale photos and info on fox snakes...
Replies (2)
John,
In my field trips so far, any time I have found Westerns, it has always been in association with water. I have found them at different sites in Minesota and Illinois. Photos of Nebraska specimens I've seen have been more of a yellowish ground color than those from further north, and the Iowa specimens I've examined have frequently been more of a yellowish green than the IL and MN animals. A close friend found a DOR near a culvert in Missouri, and reported it to be "fairly dark with a noticably red head". Hope this helps. By the way, is the Toledo animal from my stock?
Bart Bruno
I got from you (back in 2000?). He's feisty, going strong and looking forward to another season at stud. See attached photo of one of his descendants.
Bart would you say that the variance in vulpina coloration corresponds strongly to the differences in camoflage value of these colorations at each locale. I'm far from knowledgable about the Midwest but I get the feeling that the paler colors of some of the westerns corresponds to the dryer more prarie-like environment they live in (despite the local availability of water) while the darker vulpina and gloydi coloration is a consequence of the wetter and more forest like environment around the Great Lakes. That in a nutshell is my "theory".
Best regards
John
