Intergrade Pacific Rattlesnake?

[Sean]

I think this is an intergrade Southern-Northern Pacific Rattlesnake.



It was sleeping right on the trail.

[Girl Hiker]

I saw him first :q40:

[Sean]

I ID'd him first. :q7:

[JeffH]

:q7:

Nice use of the new emoji options!

[Mike P]

A little late on the action here...

I have seen this gun metal blue color variation in Fish Canyon above Azusa which is obviously pure Southern Pacific.

Where did you see this beauty? What made you think this snake is an intergrade?

[Sean]

I have seen this gun metal blue color variation in Fish Canyon above Azusa which is obviously pure Southern Pacific.

Where did you see this beauty? What made you think this snake is an intergrade?

I saw it in the Lytle Creek area. I know next to nothing about identifying snakes, so I picture-matched it at this website. In the "Unusual or Interesting Color and Pattern Variations" section, a photo by Benjamin German was labelled as an intergrade. I couldn't match mine to any pure species picture on that site, so I went with the intergrade, which to me appears exactly like the one I photographed. Maybe Benjamin German is wrong. Or I mismatched. What makes you say it's pure Southern Pacific?

[Mike P]

I have seen this gun metal blue color variation in Fish Canyon above Azusa which is obviously pure Southern Pacific.

Where did you see this beauty? What made you think this snake is an intergrade?

I saw it in the Lytle Creek area. I know next to nothing about identifying snakes, so I picture-matched it at this website. In the "Unusual or Interesting Color and Pattern Variations" section, a photo by Benjamin German was labelled as an intergrade. I couldn't match mine to any pure species picture on that site, so I went with the intergrade, which to me appears exactly like the one I photographed. Maybe Benjamin German is wrong. Or I mismatched. What makes you say it's pure Southern Pacific?

Good question, Sean. I also realized that I didn't word my comment correctly. I should have said "I have seen this gun metal blue color variation in Fish Canyon above Azusa which, because of its Azusa location, is obviously pure Southern Pacific."

The Benjamin German picture is not an intergarde because it's blue. It's an intergrade for other reasons that aren't identified in the picture. Note in the section of California Herps that discusses how to differentiate the Western subspecies: Western Subspecies.

Subspecies only occur in areas of potential overlap and that would only be in the Santa Barbara - San Luis Obispo (especially) and Kern - Ventura/L.A county lines. In the Western rattlesnake complex, range is an important determining factor of which species may have just bit you! Lytle Creek has no contact with the northern subspecies, therefore likely to be pure Southern Pacific. (Other species of rattlers pop int the Lytle Creek drainage.)

[Sean]

The Benjamin German picture is not an intergarde because it's blue. It's an intergrade for other reasons that aren't identified in the picture. Note in the section of California Herps that discusses how to differentiate the Western subspecies: Western Subspecies.

Thanks. Because the snake was curled up sleeping, I could not get a glimpse of its tail end. But based on its location, I bet you're right.

[Mike P]

The species/subspecies and hybrid/intergrade questions are secondary to the fact that the pictured rattlesnake is gorgeous! Thanks for posting it!

[HikeUp]

I hate spiders.

oops...wrong thread.