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If Elaphe guttata guttata is officially Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (please correct me if I am wrong), then Great Plains Rat snake is now Pantherophis guttatus emoryi?

Thank you.

Hello,

>If Elaphe guttata guttata is officially Pantherophis guttatus >guttatus (please correct me if I am wrong), then Great Plains >Rat snake is now Pantherophis guttatus emoryi?

In general, if a species (Elaphe guttata gutatta) is recombined (placed into another genus (i.e. Elaphe)), than all of its subspecies (Elaphe guttata ssp.) are recombined as well as long as not found distinct enough to be shifted to full species rank.
So, if guttata emoryi is still a valid subspecies, then, yes, it is P. guttatus emoryi.
Check out prior thread on this topic at this forum
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=613018,613018
There you can also find the relevant paper to the change in genus.

Cheers,
Wulf
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http://www.leiopython.de - the white-lipped python site -
http://www.herpers-digest.com - herp related eBooks search -

Many workers now regard emoryi as a separate species, in which case it becomes Pantherophis emoryi.

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

Hi Wolfgang,

well, I've heard that there will be/was already a change again, due to the fact that a senior synonym was overlooked or a genus name was already used (homonymy). Do you know more about that and can perhaps lead me to the citation?

Thanks,
Wulf
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http://www.leiopython.de - the white-lipped python site -
http://www.herpers-digest.com - herp related eBooks search -

>>Hi Wolfgang,
>>
>>well, I've heard that there will be/was already a change again, due to the fact that a senior synonym was overlooked or a genus name was already used (homonymy). Do you know more about that and can perhaps lead me to the citation?

Hi Wulf,

No, don't know anything about that... it would be most unfortunate from a nomenclatural stability poitn of view.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW Home

Hi Wulf

Maybe you have the case about Oreophis in mind. This genus has been used previously for some species of Lampropeltis and is therefore unavailable and not to be used as a new genus for the former "Elaphe" species.
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Regards

Jan Grathwohl

HERPBREEDER.com - The Herpetological database
HERPBREEDER.dk - My private collection

>>If Elaphe guttata guttata is officially Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (please correct me if I am wrong), then Great Plains Rat snake is now Pantherophis guttatus emoryi?
>>
>>Thank you.

Well, there is no such thing as "official" names for animals. It all depends on usage, meaning that it really depends on how many people agree with or blindly folow a proposal to use the name "Pantherophis." Further, new evidence often emerges which contradict an earlier proposal. So, even a name that has appear to have become established through usage may suddenly be overturned and a new name used. As I have said in the past, the name Pantherophis was proposed because the authors who proposed it did not like classifying animals into paraphyletic groups. Not all biologists share the same dislike. Therefore not all of them will accept Pantherophis even if they do not object to the data used. And there are indeed problems with the data in the paper in which the name Pantherophis was proposed. Senticolis triaspis, which is almost certainly a racer and not a ratsnake, was found to be a more derived ratsnake than some true ratsnakes in that analysis. My prediction is that the name Pantherophis will likely be ignored by most knowledgeable herpetologists but it will be used widely among the animal breeders who always make sure they use the most "current" or "correct" names, which to them means the name used in the latest proposals.