question.....

[Stefan-A]

It's old information. The page was last modified 7 years ago and that was just after Rossman and somebody else had suggested a couple of changes that were ultimately rejected.

I did 30 seconds of googling.
CNAH

• Barry et al. (1996 Herpetological Review 27(4): 172-173) have petitioned the ICZN to suppress the changes proposed by Boundy and Rossman (1995 Copeia 1995(1): 236-240) wherein the subspecies tetrataenia was synonymized with T. s. infernalis (in part). The remaining populations of T. s. infernalis were allocated to T. s. concinnus. Users of Collins (1997 Herpetological Circular 25: 1-40) should continue to recognize T. s. tetrataenia, the San Francisco Garter Snake, until the ICZN rules on this matter (see Article 80 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).

• The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2000 Opinion 1961, Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 57(3): 191-192) has voted to retain the historical taxonomic arrangement of subspecies within this evolutionary lineage, rejecting the arrangement proposed by Boundy and Rossman (1995 Copeia 1995(1): 236-240). Accordingly, the subspecies tetrataenia is reinstated (see below) and the races concinnus and infernalis retain their historical definition.

edit: I just have to say once again that it never ceases to amuse me how vague the species and subspecies concepts are, in contrast to the system we use to NAME them, which is pretty absolute. As much as I would like to keep snakes "pure", there's really no way to guarantee it by just staring at their scientific names. Actually, it's just a tool to help us remember how they are related to each other and not much more.

[enigma200316]

It's old information. The page was last modified 7 years ago and that was just after Rossman and somebody else had suggested a couple of changes that were ultimately rejected.



edit: I just have to say once again that it never ceases to amuse me how vague the species and subspecies concepts are, in contrast to the system we use to NAME them, which is pretty absolute. As much as I would like to keep snakes "pure", there's really no way to guarantee it by just staring at their scientific names. Actually, it's just a tool to help us remember how they are related to each other and not much more.

Thanks Stefan, it just through me and being fairly new to garters that can
happen very easily.......well even if I wasn't new it would probably still happen...lol