Notices |
Hello!
Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.
Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....
Please note that the information requested during registration will be used to determine your legitimacy as a participant of this site. As such, any information you provide that is determined to be false, inaccurate, misleading, or highly suspicious will result in your registration being rejected. This is designed to try to discourage as much as possible those spammers and scammers that tend to plague sites of this nature, to the detriment of all the legitimate members trying to enjoy the features this site provides for them.
Of particular importance is the REQUIREMENT that you provide your REAL full name upon registering. Sorry, but this is not like other sites where anonymity is more the rule.
Also your TRUE location is important. If the location you enter in your profile field does not match the location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected. As such, I strongly urge registrants to avoid using a VPN service to register, as they are often used by spammers and scammers, and as such will be blocked when discovered when auditing new registrations.
Sorry about all these hoops to jump through, but I am quite serious about blocking spammers and scammers at the gate on this site and am doing the very best that I can to that effect. Trust me, I would rather be doing more interesting things with my time, and wouldn't be making this effort if I didn't think it was worthwhile.
|
General Herp Talk Can't figure out where to post down in the other discussion forums? Too many options and too complicated? Well post your herp related messages here and to heck with it. |
05-06-2022, 12:59 PM
|
#1
|
|
Locality Question
Is there any sort of standard for what "locality" means. I thought it used to mean a unique looking phase is from X region of the country and that's why it's worth mentioning the locale so we can breed for X trait to accentuate it.
Is there a point in just slapping a locality label on a reptile even if it's just a generic representation of the species? Because I feel like I see that a decent amount.
|
|
|
05-06-2022, 01:18 PM
|
#2
|
|
Well, literally 'locality' means that the animal or its progenitors were from a certain collection area (however narrowly 'area' is considered). Locality has nothing conceptually to do with appearance.
Two specimens of differing localities won't necessarily be visually distinguishable (for example, many localities of Lichanura trivirgata are indistinguishable). And a specific morphology may or may not be restricted to a certain location. So, practically speaking locality and appearance are not very closely related in any simple way.
To answer your last question, there are indeed good reasons to identify the locality of a visually typical specimen or line when the collection locale is known. One is that as species delineations no longer depend on visual determinants (species determinations are now largely made on the basis of genetic distinctions, not visual distinctions), knowing the locale of an animal may now or in the future have bearing on what species it is. A real world case of this is the former Lampropeltis pyromelana that are found in the extreme southern US; (some of?) these are now L. knoblochi, though they look like pyros.
Another is that locality info may be useful for purposes of outcrossing, in cases where there is reason to believe that a certain population is best not crossed with some other population. This differs by species, of course, but it may not currently be known whether a certain species has regionally distinct populations or not, so future projects may depend on having locality information.
A bit of a late edit to add: many keepers of locality animals would be very resistant to the practice of "breed(ing) for X trait to accentuate it"; many keepers think that artificial selection sort of negates some of the value of locality animals, which are what they are because of natural selection. Such artificial selection is quite impossible to avoid entirely, of course, since there are numerous factors aside from 'trait X' that go into choosing a breeding pair, but all those other factors are also selected artificially (that is, by human intention whether conscious or not).
|
|
|
10-28-2022, 11:55 AM
|
#3
|
|
"A bit of a late edit to add: many keepers of locality animals would be very resistant to the practice of "breed(ing) for X trait to accentuate it"; many keepers think that artificial selection sort of negates some of the value of locality animals"
Inbreeding for aberrant traits is not good for the hobby, we are now producing "poodle" snakes that make the snake and the snake owner look silly. This practice leads to the production of unhealthy animals, and discards the "normal" looking ones as less valuable. Lord knows what happens to all the less desirable ones on the way to producing the next mocha zebra rainbow bright whatever first. Cringe worthy is when I see an adult with an albino washed out snake in front of a group of kids discussing herpetology and the natural history of boas and pythons. It's like showing off a poodle and trying to connect it to wolves in the wild. More people need to stand up and be vocal, many locality specific populations within the U.S. and abroad are in decline and once lost they may never be available to the hobby again.
|
|
|
10-28-2022, 12:38 PM
|
#4
|
|
FYI, 'inbreeding' and the perpetuation of genetic mutations ("morphs") aren't one and the same. The latter can be and sometimes is done without the former.
|
|
|
Join
now to reply to this thread or open new ones
for your questions & comments! FaunaClassifieds.com
is the largest online community about Reptile
& Amphibians, Snakes, Lizards and number one
classifieds service with thousands of ads to look
for. Registration is open to everyone and FREE.
Click Here to Register!
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:28 PM.
|
|