Posted by:
batrachos
at Thu Jun 12 10:01:50 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by batrachos ]
That's actually a pretty typical middle Tennessee ratsnake (I live in Clarksville, just to the northwest of Nashville); the amount of yellow, gray, and black is pretty variable even in snakes from the same locality.
Under the old color-based taxonomy, we called rats like that Elaphe obsoleta spiloides (Gray Ratsnake); only the much darker rats from further east in the state were considered E. o. obsoleta (Black Ratsnake). Under the new (Burbrink) taxonomy all Tennessee ratsnakes are Elaphe (Pantherophis) spiloides (Central Ratsnake).
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