D. M. melanurus vs unicolor -differences?

[taumau]

I noticed that breeding 2 blacktail cribos--with distinctly black tails--can result in an occasional non blacktailed offspring--so the question at hand is, is this animal still a blacktail (D. m.melanurus)? It may look like a unicolor, but can you call it that purely based on tail color?

I thought unicolor was a subspecies clearly defined, as was melanurus..?

 

[bmwdirtracer]

Black Pearl's website offers some perspective on the melanurus/unicolor discussion. See both the blacktail and the unicolor pages:
http://www.blackpearlreptiles.com/black_pearl_reptiles/home.html#!blacktail/c1vfh

And, they have some beautiful creatures of every Drymarchon subspecies, for your viewing pleasure!

 

[jwarren1]

How could it possibly be a different species if uni x uni=BT and BT x BT =uni are occasional possibilities?
Also, geographic overlap in the ranges of the BT and unicolor are documented.

 

[bmwdirtracer]

As SNOWGYRE (Vanessa) points out in an associated thread, the taxonomy is rapidly changing, as cheaper DNA testing becomes available.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177997&page=4

The question might be whether the two are indeed separate SUB-species, which interbreed, or whether they're merely different races / color phases, like red-throat or all-black couperi?

Time and testing will tell.