Genetic Purity ???
Just wanted everyone to be clear on a few points pertaining to this thread. Those of you that know me, know that I have been a missionary in telling people the Ultra mutation had hybrid origins. When the debates first raged, I was blue in the face reminding everyone that the originator declared that he used a gray rat & snow corn in the first pairing. In fact, only after that original breeder discovered how unpopular hybrids were - did he claim that in the same year he bred a regular snow corn to that first
UltraHypo (as he called them) and therefore some of us in the hobby actually did have pure corns. Whether he did or did not, the die was cast. Some still say, "
I can see that I got one of the pure Ultra types since I don't see any alien markers", but we all know that if you pour enough water over a cup of milk in your bathtub, you'll end up with a bathtub of clear water. Yes, it is uber watery, clear milk (or invisibly milky water), but the milk is still there (I'm not counting all the pathogens on the surface of the tub or the additives in the water). Therefore, some Ultra types show NONE of the hybrid markers seen in early generations, but honestly, I rarely see one of those. Again, anyone that knows me will tell you that I never claimed Ultra types (Ultras and Ultramels) were pure corns, and I am often the first one that brings up the hybrid reality in conversations. If you go back to the forum archives, they will bear me out. Also, you will see that a decision was made on this forum to consider them pure corns. THIS is the reason you have not seen people calling them hybrids. By the time the debate began, hundreds of people had already bred the Ultra mutation into "allegedly" pure corns. This brings us back to
perception. If you perceive that all corns not exhibiting hybrid markers are pure corns, that is only your perception. In reality, it doesn't take many subsequent generations of breeding a hybrid snake back to the desired phenotype - to end up with 95%+ pure-looking corns. Hence, in the absence of nDNA testing (expensive and potentially unrevealing), the appearance of a corn has little to do with its' true genotype. If you rely on mtDNA, you're only seeing maternal heritage.
Regarding the opinions some are making based on seeing the Tessera X Ultramel progeny I showed, those aberrant markings on the Anery and Ultramel are indeed markings that people should question (since they are not common in non Ultra Tesseras), BUT I've seen allegedly pure motleys with the same aberrant markings. Are motleys hybrids? Let's hope not. Of course - as stated previously - we don't question zagging on lavenders and aztec markings in any color compound. My point is that if you have only seen those Tesseras, know that they represent less than 3% of all the Tesseras I've produced. When I have time, I'll post pix of the non Ultra Tesseras for your review. Bottom line (as someone already stated); the Tessera mutants demonstrate no more atypical markings than motleys. And if anyone says that any cornsnake mutant demonstrates hybrid markers simply because it doesn't look like a wild corn, then, they should not invest in any corn that does not look like a wild-type. Drawing the conclusion that because Tesseras do not have wild-type pattern and are therefore hybrids is like saying albinos can't be pure corns OR striped corns must be garter or ribbon snake hybrids.
BTW, the Tessera mutation is demonstrated in at least one other rat snake species,
Elaphe situla. In speaking to Karl Krumke of Winding Creek Herps, he confirmed that the Tessera-like mutation in that species is inherited dominantly. If you turn to Plate 31 in the book "A Monograph of the Colubrid Snakes of the Genus Elaphe - Fitzinger" by Klaus-Dieter Schultz - [Koeltz Scientific Books - 1996], you will see several examples of this pattern mutation. Automatically presuming that the Tessera mutation must have derived from that species demands the parallel that motley and striped corns surely derived from other snake species. Since all colubrid snakes of the world have a common ancestor, eventually, virtually all pattern mutations will be found in all species.
Regarding the photograph links submitted by me a few days ago, pic URLs
http://www.cornsnake.net/Tessera/test04jn10a.jpg
http://www.cornsnake.net/Tessera/test06jn10a.jpg
http://www.cornsnake.net/Tessera/test29jn10a.jpg
represent over and under shots of pure corns from a Hypo bred to a Snow.
Brain fodder: Have you any idea how many non-mutant Ultra/Ultramel siblings are sold every year as non-mutants? Since thousands are produced and sold annually in our hobby, the chance of you having one or more of those is high. There would be NO way you could distinguish one from any other non-mutant corn. In fact, the most common non Ultra/Ultramel siblings are Amels. I'm betting that over 90% of you out there unknowingly own some of those. If a "purist" made the decision to get rid of all their corns (or rats, kings, bulls, etc.) in a preliminary effort to start a species pure snake collection from reliably wild-caught stock, they could likely never again own a mutation of the respective species. Since we don't have pedigrees of our snakes that reliably go back dozens of generations, there would be no way for you to determine the genetic purity of ANY snake, AND how reliable are the pedigrees we have? Also, keep in mind that only the likes of thoroughbred horses that sometimes cost millions of dollars require strict DNA evidence of every generation. Likewise, no-one can really say for sure that their champion dog does not have DNA from a different breed. And I'm not referring to all dog species originating from wolves.
Please, don't take this to be a defense of hybridization. Again, I have never missed an opportunity to mention the hybrid origins of the Ultra mutation - when engaged in conversations about them. I'm not trying to justify hybridization in corns. I'm only setting the record straight on the likelihood that hybrids are in all of our collections. Even though many of us knew the Ultra mutation was not of pure corn origins (via confession by the originator), the reigning forum of the realm at that time (CS) specifically declared that in so much as the credibility of the original breeder was in question and that there were already so many Ultra types in collections, they were considered pure corns. If you find those archives, you will see my staunch opposition to that decision.
Finally: Are Tesseras hybrids? No more than Motleys in my experienced opinion.
oke:
