Puget Sound Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii)

Created: July 14th, 2014 - 12:00 PM
Last Modified: July 14th, 2014 - 12:00 PM Entered by: Steve Zimmerman
Record 195364

Country: United States		State: Washington	County: Mason County	Time: 2014-07-13 15:25:00
Qty: 1	Age: Adult	Sex: --	Method:	Habitat: -----
Body Temperature: -----		Air Temperature: 82.00F	Ground Temperature: -----	Humidity: -----
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy		Moon Phase: -----	Elevation: 1300.00ft	Barometric Pressure: -----

Vouchers

Comments

Posted by Steve Zimmerman on Jul 14, 2014 at 05:25 PM

If 192515 was found in eastern Skagit, I might call it fitchi. In my opinion, subspecific designations are mostly arbitrary, so as long as we know it's T. sirtalis, that's all that really matters :-)

Posted by Zach Lim on Jul 14, 2014 at 04:26 PM

Thank you for the reply, Steve.

Take a look at my sirtalis record from Skagit County, WA: Record 192515. The snake looks very similar to your pickeringii. I have it as fitchi (per Gary Nafis' ID), but am still really unclear about it.

Posted by Steve Zimmerman on Jul 14, 2014 at 01:35 PM

Zach, Nowhere even remotely close to the range of fitchi. I have found pickeringii that look like this on both sides of Puget Sound. Even where "true" pickeringii occur (blue-ish with no red), I have found snakes that look like fitchi. T. s. concinnus, as they go up the coast of WA, look just like this as well (with a little more red on the face).

Posted by Zach Lim on Jul 14, 2014 at 12:47 PM

Nice find. Interesting that it looks so similar to T.sirtalis fitchi- potential intergrade zone?