Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw an ad in the venomous section for triple cross cantils, claiming to be ornate/taylor/mexican.

Did taxonomy change again? I thought ornate and taylori were the same animal?

They are the same - Ornate/Taylor's
There are 4 sub-species of Cantils
Ornates were named in honor of Herpetologist Edward Taylor, I believe, not sure, but I believe by Hobart Smith.

Thanks, that is what I was thinking. It just made me scratch my head when they had an ad for a taylor/mexican cantil subadult cross listed for $100, yet they had taylor/mexican/ornate triple cross offspring listed for $300. The ad was pulled so I guess it was a mis-listing.

The Ornate cantils have been given species status:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119188687/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

I am aware of this.

But the name ornate cantil and taylor's cantil both refer to Agkistrodon taylori. I just found it interesting that somehow using 2 common names for one species made the offspring a 3 way cross.

Yea, that was their mistake.