Dumb question-what is the difference between a subspecies and a locality?

[Alli_Draggy]

Specifically, where is the line drawn, and why is it drawn?

We're preparing for a herping trip in AR this weekend, and one thing that surprised both Allidraggy and I was that there apparently aren't corn snakes of the same type that there are right over the river in TN.

But looking at photos, it really seems like the rat snakes they have look more like the locality corns we have around here than, say, a Miami or a traditional Carolina does. And I know from reading the boards here that corns and rats can interbreed and have fertile offspring. My 8 yr old wants to know how this works-and I admit, I have no clue!

Is there a snake taxonomy for dummies out there somewhere?

 

[Nanci]

I'm sure someone will come along with a better answer than I have.

I'm going to use Rosy Boas as the example. Rosy Boas are a species, Lichanura trivirgata, with three subspecies: Mexican Rosy Boa - Lichanura trivirgata trivirgata, Desert Rosy Boa - Lichanura trivirgata gracia, and Coastal Rosy Boa - Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca.

Each of those subspecies is divided into localities- a population isolated by geography or location which concentrates the genes producing the coloration/pattern of the animal into something specific to that locality. Here's a list.

So, cornsnakes are a species, Pantherophis guttatus (formerly Elaphe guttata), which does not officially have any subspecies. This can and does change as the taxonomy is redefined. For example, the Keys Corn, or Rosy Ratsnake, used to be classified as a subspecies, rosecea, but is now officially considered to be a true cornsnake, not distinct enough to warrant subspecies status.

Examples of localities would be the well-known Hunt Club (original Okeetees), Miamis, and Alabamas. There are also Khaki corns, Golden corns, Boot Keys, Pine Keys and Devil's Garden, to name a few.

To confuse things even more, once a breeder has the locality snakes, they usually further refine the aspects of that particular look to suit their tastes- which has resulted in "locality" snakes which aren't localities at all, e.g. Abbott's Okeetees, Love Okeetees, Extreme Okeetees, Halloween Okeetees and Buckskin Okeetees. If you compared any of those to the "best" pure Hunt Club Okeetee, either WC or from never-outcrossed lines, the difference would be quite dramatic.

The "purity" of a locality is extremely important to some collectors of some species, and less so for others. With cornsnakes, purity of locality is not particularly marketable to most collectors. Some, however, value it highly.

 

[Nanci]

I think another part of your question pertains to can/do cornsnakes interbreed with other ratsnakes? The answer is yes. When a cornsnake is bred (or breeds itself, out in the wild) with another Pantherophis species, that creates an "intergrade." So cornsnake x yellow rat, black rat, grey rat etc. are all intergrades.

You can also trick different species into breeding, say cornsnake x kingsnake, or cornsnake x gopher snake. These are hybrids.