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Lampropeltis alterna, according to all scientists who have knowledge of this species and all known published information, has a silvery gray iris.

Someone with the online name of troy h recently claimed that he has found a wild caught L. alterna without a silvery gray iris. The only evidence he has is a photograph of a snake of unknown species, unknown origin and unknown locality that does not have a silvery gray iris. Because troy h was trying to refute my theory with this piece of "evidence" I did not want to appear as though I were ignoring evidence. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and discussed what effect such a find, it authentic, would have on the validity of my theory of the origin of Lampropeltis alterna and its unique iris color. In no way did I verify this claim, nor did I endorse this claim as valid. It remains to be seen as to whether this specimen is a hoax or not. troy h has already claimed that no scientific journal will publish his finding. I already countered that the only reason no one will publish it is if it were a fake. Therefore I will patiently await the publication of evidence that will show that not all individuals of Lampropeltis alterna have a silvery gray iris.

For the time being, however, I am not going to accept this single photograph of unknown origin as scientific evidence. Indeed, given troy h's behavior online, I suspect that the likelihood that this snake is not a wild caught L. alterna is very high. His photograph is included below. I notice that his photograph is being stored in a folder named "temporary_web_files." Therefore it may disappear from cyberspace shortly. If it does, it is further evidence that this claim is more likely to be a hoax than not.

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Removed copyrighted image.

Edited on April 15, 2004 at 20:58:49 by phwyvern.

Where is the evidence to support this claim? Why is this claim being made and yet no effort is being made to publish this claim in a scientific journal? This is a fact concerning the natural history of L. alterna, and it should be publishable in just about any herpetological journal, even amateur herpetological society journals if necessary, provided of course that this claim is true.

Where is the beef?

if you accept "even amateur herp society journals", then it has been published . . . on the internet. It is now up to you to refute the published photograph as a hoax. You are welcome to come to my house and examine the animal yourself. You have my email address, drop me an email and I'll give you my phone number. At this point I'm sure that I can make arrangements to pay your airfaire to DFW, I'll pick you up at the airport and bring you by the house and you can see for yourself. Of course, you'd have to give up the security of internet anonymity to do so.

Troy

Yes I would accept "amateur" herpetological society journals as an acceptable venue for your claim of a wild caught Lampropeltis alterna without the distinctive silvery gray iris. That is because I want to obviate your claim that no scientific journal will publish your claim. But it appears that you cannot get it published even in these journals. That is strong evidence that you know that your claim is bogus and hence it would not even survive the scrutiny of the editors of "amateur" herpetological society journals and newsletters.

however, as a Past President of the Texas Herpetological Society, I could easily publish just about anything I want in our Herp Society's newsletter . . .

see:

http://www.kingsnake.com/ths/

and follow the links. You, however, can get absolutely nothing published - you'd have to leave your name to do that! LOL

Troy Hibbitts
past President THS
former Editor THS
current delegate to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Wildlife Diversity Committee for the THS
past President NTHS

If you have no problem getting it published but nevertheless refuse to publish it, then you probably know that there is no beef, only bull, in your claim.

I am not challenging you to publish it in order to refute your claim, I want your claim, if it is true, to be known to science. My theory of how L. alterna evolved and how the silvery gray iris originated in L. alterna is not refuted by the presence of a single individual or even a single population with a differently colored iris, contra your misunderstanding/wishful thinking. My theory is refuted if there is a lot of genetic variability within L. alterna, which would suggest it is an older species than one that has evolved only since the last ice age.

Could you please provide a link to this text? I would like to read it myself.
/Jakob