Since there appears to be a good deal of interest in these small snakes, I thought I would post a few pix. The various subspecies of ring-necked snake (as currently described) are very probably invalid. There are simply to many confusingly similar and overlapping characteristics to differentiate them. Currently molecular studies are underway that may help us to unravel the complexities within the genus.
I have used current taxonomy here. Top to bottom:
Key ring-neck, D. p. acricus, Pacific ring-neck, D. p. amabilis, Todos Santos ring-neck, D. p. anthonyi
