Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Awhile back a range map of Drys was posted (was it by Dan Felice ?) - it was a revision of the one in the Smith 1941 paper on Dry subspecies. I've been just starting on a study of Dry taxonomy and variation south of the border, and even at first glance, it's clear that some of the subsp. have much larger distributions than either Smith or more recent maps show. For instance, rubidus occurs on the older maps as far north as Mazatlan on the Pacific coast (the recently posted map shows question marks further north). But I've found many museum specimens (collected from the '40s to the '70s) from as far north as southern Sonora, not far south of Guaymas.

This is hundreds of miles farther north than maps show, as far as I know. I haven't seen the specimens themselves yet, just the locality records; but there are so many they can't be misidentified animals of some other species. Another interesting thing - rubidus occurs well up into the mountains - some records of animals collected at 5500' elevation. I was surprised by this.

Just wanted to share this little tidbit - I'm sure I'll find many more like it as I get into the Dry data.

Happy New Year,
Craig Stanford

that wasn't me craig, Dann re-posted it for us. btw, i believe unicolors are also found at higher elevations than might be expected as well & they seem to prefer cooler temps in captivity than one would expect......was that you selling some pits the other day in the classifieds? i bit on the ghost bull but was too late. :>[ she was a beauty!!

Dann - yes that was me selling off some of my bulls - to make room for rapidly growing Drys....

I actually made that map a few years ago using literature references that I could find on Drymarchon, and most of them were old.

Everytime I shared it, I explained that it was only a very rough estimate for the Mexican and Central American Drys...but...I guess there are now a lot of rumors and misconceptions of where the map came from !

dean - ah, ok. Your map seems to be more accurate than the 1941 Smith map though. I'm just surprised that on the first day I began poking into museum records I found so many specimens from outside the mapped ranges. Of course the museums also have eastern indigos from lots places from eastern Lousiana to Alabama where I assume they don't occur anymore.
Craig

It's generally agreed (although not 100% certain) that couperi
are extripated from AL, MS and SC, and now only occur in FL and GA.

At some point, I imagine that Drymarchon must have ranged across S LA from S TX ...but I don't beleive any Drys have ever been officially recorded in LA (?) correct me if I'm wrong...

So...the eastern population has been disjuct for many (perhaps 100's?) of years and are therefore now considered by most to be a distinct species.

Mexico? Man...nothing would suprise me down there...so much remote terrain that's never been officially surveyed. I hope you are able to collect enough info to set the record straight!

Looking forward to the revised version. Eagerly.
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"Life without risk is to merely exist."