Emoryi stomach patterns

[CARattler40]

I've seen a few pictures of various emoryi that people on here have, and it seems like most of them have perfect little checkerboard patterns just like most corns. Well, I noticed mine doesn't even have checkers for the first half of her body, and once you get to the back half of her, the checkers are there, but they seem like very randomly spaced dots rather than checkers. Could it be because mine is of the South Texas variety/locality?

 

[Roy Munson]

I have a pair of '05 SMR emoryis that fit your two descriptions. Like your female, my male hardly has any checkers for his first half, and the second half has a scattering of small, rounded checkers. But my female's belly is patterned much like a corn's. I don't know anything about either of my emoryi's ancestral stock, so I can't help you determine if these differences are due to locality or emoryi diversity. :shrugs:

 

[CARattler40]

Maybe it's sex related? If that's the case, then my "she" is a "he." My emoryi's stomach looks exactly like your male's. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Roy Munson]

Maybe it's sex related? If that's the case, then my "she" is a "he." My emoryi's stomach looks exactly like your male's. Thanks for the reply.

I'd be surprised if the differences are sex-related. I think you were on the right track with your first hunch, and that the differences are related to which regional populations the stock came from.

 

[CARattler40]

Let me ask you this then: The male, is the color on his saddles and the rest of his body more gray than the female? If so, then I think it does have to do with the locality thing.
(from SMR)

According to Don, that is the STX version of the emoryi. I've seen the parents of mine, and they both look exactly like that (plus they were w/c years and years ago, down here in deep south Texas). It just seems that these seem to have more gray/silver in them than brown, as most specimens I've seen.

 

[Roy Munson]

Well, my male is lighter, but I don't know about grayer. Mine are both fairly brown. They're only 7-8 months old, but they don't seem to change dramatically from shed to shed like many of my corns do. I'd be surprised if either of them ended up as silver as the photo you posted. That's an awesome looking emoryi. I'd still chalk this all up as variation between ancestral populations. :shrugs: