Hypermelanistic Honduran?

[Beardonicus]

I recently acquired a female Honduran Milk that has an abnormal amount of black.....she is in blue right now, so once she sheds I'll post pics of her.....from what I gathered, she is a pure Honduran...has anyone ever heard of a hypermelanistic Honduran before?

[Will]

Mary V recently posted about her's which is quite a dark honduran. Here is a link to that. (http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53985)

I don't know if this is a simple recessive trait or just a random occurance. Perhaps others here know the answer to that...

Got a pic...?

[Stockwell]

Yeah, we call those the ugly ones. Many wild caughts are like that. In fact most of my founder stock was dark W/C and I spent 15 years selective breeding to reduce that black tipping.
Taken to the extreme the ultimate Hypermelanistic
Honduran has been given it's own subspecific status as L. t. gaigeae.. the black milk, which according to Williams is likely little more than a high altitude mix of Hondurensis and Stuarti. Melanism tends to evolve as a strategy for heat absorbtion, which is often seen in montane populations and other cold or sun limited habitats.

[Beardonicus]

Interesting info! I was not aware that gaigeae were forms of Hondurans. Some might call the dark Hondurans ugly but I think they're pretty darn cool lol. I am pretty sure this is a CB snake, but its not a certainty. Thanks guys!

[Stockwell]

Gaigeae, are not currently considered Hondurans by collectors, however all triangulum are related obviously hence the grouping in the same family. Many central American milks have large ranges that overlap and cover a diverse amount of geography, yielding a variety of phenotypic variation. It goes to reason that there are historical evolutionary links between several subspecies, plus natural occuring intergrades are also known to occur.
Gaigeae have a small range in the high montane elevations of Costa Rica and western Panama. This area is flanked in the lower elevations by Hondurensis and Stuarti, thus Williams hypothesis.
Baby gaigeae look very much like Lt. stuarti

[Beardonicus]

Makes sense to me! Thanks again for the info, I appreciate the insight. :)