Quote:
Originally Posted by strutter769
Cliff (or any of our Epicrates officianados) I read something about this change, but don't fully understand it. Can someone maybe explain why it was done and what exactly it means to have fewer subspecies? What does it mean for Epicrates in general and maybe for the hobby or breeding?
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A few years back, scientists studied the differences between the old subspecies using a more modern set of techniques, and from these determined some of the subspecies were so similar they did not qualify as fully separate groups after all.
The study, which was authored by Paulo Passos and Ronaldo Fernandes in 2008, narrowed the existing epicrates cenchria complex from nine to five subspecies, as follows:
E. c. cenchria (“Brazilian”)
--(now includes) E. c. gaigei (“Peruvian”)
--(now includes) E. c. hygrophilus (“Espirito Santo”)
E. c. crassus (“Paraguayan”)
--(now includes) E. c. polylepis (“Central highland”)
E. c. maurus (“Colombian”)
--(now includes) E. c. barbouri (“Marajo Island”)
E. c. alvarezi (“Argentine”)
E. c. assisi (“Caatinga”)
For those interested in reading it, the paper is called “Revision of the Epicrates Cenchria Complex (Serpentes: Boidae),” and lays out their methodology fairly clearly...if slowly.
As for what it means....I view this, as with all matters of classification, as an unsettled issue. I would still avoid creating intergrades between any of the former subspecies, because for all we know someone else will reverse these findings in another few years. For example, Jeff Clark, an experienced US rainbow breeder, is maintaining his Peruvian snakes as a separate "locality" to preserve their look.
I hope this helps answer your question!
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