Taxonomy: Ratsnakes in eastern North America are in the process of separating into genetically distinct populations but this is not without its issues. Because they are in the halfway point of being different species, it has caused many issues for taxonomists who tried categorizing the different populations as regional variations, as subspecies and as different species. The most recent taxonomy change places them into three species; the eastern ratsnake in the easternmost states, the western ratsnake found west of the Appalachians, and the central or grey ratsnake found between the other two species. These species are still not well defined as there is a gradient of hybridization where their ranges meet. This area is large and all of the Ontario range represents an area of hybridization between the eastern and central ratsnakes. This complication of taxonomy shows how nature is an ever changing process and despite being fluid, we as humans try to organize them into definitive categories regardless of whether it is representative of nature.
Sources:
Burbrink, Frank T. "Systematics of the Eastern Ratsnake Complex (Elaphe obsoleta)." Research Gate, Herpetological Monographs, Jan. 2001, www.researchgate.net/publication/267992693_Systematics_of_the_Eastern_Ratsnake_Complex_Elaphe_obsoleta. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021. "Gray Ratsnake." Natural History Notebooks, Canadian Museum of Nature, 14 June 2021, nature.ca/notebooks/english/brsnake.htm. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021. "Gray Ratsnake." Ontario Nature, 2021, ontarionature.org/programs/community-science/reptile-amphibian-atlas/gray-ratsnake/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021. Hillis, David M., and Wüster Wolfgang. "Taxonomy and Nomenclature of the Pantherophis obsoletus complex." Bangor University, 2021, research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/37125161/Hillis2021PantherophisRevised.pdf. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021. "Pantherophis obsoletus (Say in James, 1823)." Integrated Taxonomic Information System, www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1081826#null. Accessed 7 Dec. 2021. |