I believe I can clarify my point further. How would you identify a hatchling from a hybrid clutch that had subocular scales on one side of the head with no supralabial contacting the orbit, but on the other side of the head was showing broad orbit contact with a supralabial. In addition, it was showing one supraocular on one side and two on the other side along with an intermediate ventral count. While that is not common, it can and does happen. Not all hybrids will show definitive traits indicating what type of hybrid it is.

Another more common example would be a hatchling that keyed out as a breitensteini on four of the scalation characteristics but had suboculars on one side of the head, but had supralabial to orbital contact on the other side. Would you think this was a pure breitensteini with a mutation, or was hybridization with brongersmai involved? It could be either one and it would be nice to be able to eliminate hybridization.

Kelly

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