The Central Valley of CA is home to several different morphs of the CA kingsnake. The two main morphs are known as the Delta morph and Eiseni morph. Each morph can have a banded pattern or an aberrant pattern. The Eiseni morph is known for having a black belly and the Delta morph is known for having a brown belly. For the longest time these two morphs were known as the Davis morph and the Mendota morph. Those are the names of two cities in the Central Valley that have become known locales for these two morphs. Brian Hubbs decided to name the northern population the Delta morph and the southern population the Eiseni morph. The main difference between the two is the Delta morph has dark markings and the Eiseni has light markings. However, there are Eiseni morphs with dark markings in the northern part of the Eiseni range where the Delta morph begins.
Eiseni Morph
A Delta Morph
Normal banded
Below is a list of 4 different "looks" the Eiseni morph has. In his book, Brian Hubbs has named each variant. These extra names haven't quite caught on in the herp community, but the word Eiseni has become used more and more, thanks to Hubbs. Before, these were known as Mendota black bellies.
Eiseni Morph: A mostly aberrant snake with little banding.
San Joaquin Banded Aberrant Morph: Mostly banded with some aberrant markings.
San Joaquin Banded Black-belly Morph: Completely banded with light markings connected on the lower sides bordering the belly.
Speckled Eiseni Morph: Same as Eiseni Morph but completely speckled on the sides.
San Joaquin Banded Aberrant Morph: Mostly banded with some aberrant markings.
San Joaquin Banded Black-belly Morph: Completely banded with light markings connected on the lower sides bordering the belly.
Speckled Eiseni Morph: Same as Eiseni Morph but completely speckled on the sides.
A high percentage of Eiseni Morphs have complete banding after the neck like
this individual.
this individual.
A very nice Eiseni Morph with a unique head pattern.
Eiseni Morph.
San Joaquin Banded Aberrant Morph
A nice chocolate brown Eiseni.
Another with an abnormally striped pattern.
A nice looking Eiseni Morph.
I'd call this a San Joaquin Banded Aberrant Morph. This one highly
resembles a NP-LB Barred Morph from Southern CA.
resembles a NP-LB Barred Morph from Southern CA.
Here's what "Dobry" had to say on KS.com when someone argued this hypermelanistic gene is a single gene responsible for all the color and pattern variations in this morph. "...your observations are congruent with the hardie-weinberg principle. What you are observing is many different genes at work. Hypermelanism is independent of those other traits you described. However it is very possible that that gene is physically located close to other traits, and they are commonly inherited together because of their locations on the chromosomes. See linkage disequilibrium. Kind of like white skin, blond hair and blue eyes are commonly found on the same individual, but every once in a while you find a black person with blue or green eyes and literally every combination inbetween. Those are different genes. There is not some magical gene that has many phenotypes, they are independent genes, that can be associated with each-other due to their presence in the population AND their physical location to one another within the genomes of the snakes."
An interesting quote I took from the 2003 KS archives, by Rick Staub: "The Davis blackbelly trait does behave in a recessive manner though I believe there is probably more than one gene acting here. This would seem obvious as IMO it is unlikely that a single gene would be able to control both the color and pattern anomolies found in this variant. I hate to call it a morph since they are a natuaral part of the wild population and not something created through captive breeding. It would be like calling alterna a morph (sacrilege). At least for the Davis population, nobody that I have heard of has ever produced a baby that had either the color or funky pattern alone without the other. I have bred normals to blackbellies and wc carriers of the gene (kind of like hets) to blackbellies and never produced a baby with only the color or only the pattern variations. IMO this suggests that the pattern and color genes are linked very closely (next to each other on same chromosome) and therefore passed along together. The only other thing I would add is that when I bred my blackbelly male to the "het" female I always got about 75% blackbellies. My numbers weren't great enough to make it statistically significant but it kind of suggested to me that it wasn't a straight recessive gene. This same "het" female bred to a normal male produced all normal banded babies.
A friend made an interesting breeding of his blackbelly female to an albino striped Cal king and got all normal banded babies except one which was a blackbelly. Kind of weird and I don't know how to explain that one. Suggests that the genetics might be more complicated than we expect.
In Stockton, CA there is another population of blackbellies where snakes have been found with normal colors, a banded pattern on top, and an all black belly. Actually was a very cool looking snake.
A friend that has caught several populations of them suggested a hypothesis that was kind of unique. He wondered if the blackbelly morph wasn't the historic type in Calif and the populations that remain are simply remnants that remain once the normal banded pattern types arose and became the prominent type(sounds like they had armies and fought each other). The animals I have seen from Davis, Sacramento, and Mendota all look very similar and I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same genetics. If my friends idea of remnant populations is true then yes they would all be the same genetically."
A friend made an interesting breeding of his blackbelly female to an albino striped Cal king and got all normal banded babies except one which was a blackbelly. Kind of weird and I don't know how to explain that one. Suggests that the genetics might be more complicated than we expect.
In Stockton, CA there is another population of blackbellies where snakes have been found with normal colors, a banded pattern on top, and an all black belly. Actually was a very cool looking snake.
A friend that has caught several populations of them suggested a hypothesis that was kind of unique. He wondered if the blackbelly morph wasn't the historic type in Calif and the populations that remain are simply remnants that remain once the normal banded pattern types arose and became the prominent type(sounds like they had armies and fought each other). The animals I have seen from Davis, Sacramento, and Mendota all look very similar and I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same genetics. If my friends idea of remnant populations is true then yes they would all be the same genetically."
This amazing looking morph may be a form of hypomelanism attached to the
Central Valley black belly morphs. This individual was hatched from a wild caught
gravid female. Hubbs has reports of others being found in the wild but this is not
a common find.
Central Valley black belly morphs. This individual was hatched from a wild caught
gravid female. Hubbs has reports of others being found in the wild but this is not
a common find.
Here is a juvenile.
A nice adult specimen provided by James Tintle.
A close up of the pattern. Click on the photo below to enlarge.
This may be another type of Delta, but Hubbs and John Stephenson have decided to call it the golden black belly. I have no locality info on these kings, which is usually the case for aberrants, so I will keep them separate from the Deltas. These could also be intermediates.
The Delta's also have the same types of sub-morphs that is seen in the Eiseni Morph. As you can see, there is variation in the darkness of the normally light markings.
Delta Morph: A mostly aberrant snake with little banding.
Delta Banded Aberrant Morph: Mostly banded with some aberrant markings.
Delta Banded Black-belly Morph: Completely banded with light markings connected on the lower sides bordering the belly.
Speckled Delta Morph: Same as Delta Morph but completely speckled on the sides.
Delta Banded Aberrant Morph: Mostly banded with some aberrant markings.
Delta Banded Black-belly Morph: Completely banded with light markings connected on the lower sides bordering the belly.
Speckled Delta Morph: Same as Delta Morph but completely speckled on the sides.
Delta Banded Black-belly Morph
This is a very nice Speckled Delta aberrant Morph. By far my favorite out of all the
Speckled morphs. What I find interesting is the head pattern is that of a normal
Cal king. Most Delta and Eiseni morphs have a similar head pattern unlike a
normal Cal king. I don't know why some have the normal head pattern.
Speckled morphs. What I find interesting is the head pattern is that of a normal
Cal king. Most Delta and Eiseni morphs have a similar head pattern unlike a
normal Cal king. I don't know why some have the normal head pattern.
A Delta aberrant Morph with a more typical Delta head pattern. Notice how most,
if not all, Delta and Eiseni Morphs with an aberrant pattern have some degree of
speckling.
if not all, Delta and Eiseni Morphs with an aberrant pattern have some degree of
speckling.
A very nice looking Delta aberrant with an interesting pattern. This photo was
taken by David Jahn. You can find his flicker photos here.
taken by David Jahn. You can find his flicker photos here.
The Delta Banded Black-belly Morph. This is just one of many cool finds John
has allowed me to post here. I consider John the Brian Hubbs of Northern CA.
And that was meant as a compliment. lol
has allowed me to post here. I consider John the Brian Hubbs of Northern CA.
And that was meant as a compliment. lol
Another very nice Delta Morph in these next two photos.
A Speckled Delta Morph.
A very nice juvenile Delta morph found by Dave Feliz. I love this next series
of pictures.
of pictures.
Click on the thumb nails bellow to view on CalPhotos.