>>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?

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>>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.

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