Part of my job is teaching kids about various creatures and their history/environmental impacts. We have an red corn snake but now I adopted an Anery one. It looks like the scientific names are different and I am wondering if the Anery is every found that colour in the wild or if it is strictly a captive-bred variety? I find it interesting that it looks so much like the Eastern rat snake, which is native (but endangered) here in Ontario. I look forward to hearing from you with some further infromation that I can pass along through nature education...
-
Hello!
Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.
Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....
Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.
Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.
What is the history of the Anery
- Thread starter kellycamp
- Start date
chris68
Arundel Reptiles
From our host here at cornsnakes.com
Quote from Rich Z..."The type 'A' Anerythristic corn is one of the few cultivars of the corn snake that has thriving populations existing in the wild. As a matter of fact, this particular homotype is apparently a positive survival trait for the corn snake and the percentage of Anerythristics to normal colored corns appears to be increasing. At least in the population found in southwest Florida. Possibly this is because most of the roads in this area are of a crushed shell and asphault mixture that a snake that is blotched in pattern of mostly grays, blacks, dark browns and whites would be nearly invisibile to predators as it crawled or laid on this type of surface. In a discussion with Dr. Bernard Bechtel years ago, he told me that many years ago he had heard rumors of a black corn in southwest Florida and tried in vain to obtain a sample. Finally able to do so only after several years of trying. So much have their numbers increased that today many collectors would consider it unusual to not find a good percentage of the Anerythristics during a typical night of 'collecting'..." End Quote
Here's the link http://www.serpenco.com/cultivars/anerythristic.html
:*)
Quote from Rich Z..."The type 'A' Anerythristic corn is one of the few cultivars of the corn snake that has thriving populations existing in the wild. As a matter of fact, this particular homotype is apparently a positive survival trait for the corn snake and the percentage of Anerythristics to normal colored corns appears to be increasing. At least in the population found in southwest Florida. Possibly this is because most of the roads in this area are of a crushed shell and asphault mixture that a snake that is blotched in pattern of mostly grays, blacks, dark browns and whites would be nearly invisibile to predators as it crawled or laid on this type of surface. In a discussion with Dr. Bernard Bechtel years ago, he told me that many years ago he had heard rumors of a black corn in southwest Florida and tried in vain to obtain a sample. Finally able to do so only after several years of trying. So much have their numbers increased that today many collectors would consider it unusual to not find a good percentage of the Anerythristics during a typical night of 'collecting'..." End Quote
Here's the link http://www.serpenco.com/cultivars/anerythristic.html
:*)
Thanks. I thought that the Anery was just a colour variation and maybe something bred in captivity and not found in the wild, other than maybe by fluke due to genetics. I am trying to find out before I create a sign for our new Anery snake. I have found different scientific names so I think I will have to investigate further.
Thank you for writing. I am still trying to understand the history of the Anery compared to the orange corns that I am more familiar with. Isn't Anery just a genetic variation? I mean, couldn't an Anery have orange babies? It is confusing to me now since they seem to have different scientific names. Do they still tend to show up in corn bins eating mice and rats as the others? These snakes are not native here in Ontario - but we do have an Eastern rat snake called Gray or Black Rat Snake. One of 2 populations is endangered.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
Corns were previously known as Elaphe guttata guttata. However, a couple of scientific papers a few years ago proposed a name change to Pantherophis guttatus, to differentiate New World rat snakes from Old World rat snakes.
Folks seem to have adopted the new designation. HOWEVER... the last I heard, the world governing body which oversees the allocation of scientific names, bounced the paper, asking for more evidence before recommending the name change be made. This body only meets once every five years, hence it's a very drawn-out process to resubmit.
I don't know the latest on this situation and I'm not science geek, so there may have been further developments that I don't know about.
However, that might be why you're finding more than one scientific name applied to Corn Snakes.
Anery (Anerthrythrism) is indeed a genetic variation - it's refers to the colour of the Corn Snake.
Yes, an Anery can produce Normal (red/brown/orange) or Amel (oranges/pinks/white) babies. To produce Anerys, both of the parents have to be carrying the Anery trait. If an Anery is mated with a Normal, then the offspring will look Normal. If an Anery is carrying the Amel trait, then if mated with an Amel (or another Corn carrying the Amel trait), Amel offspring will result (in a varying theoretical percentage of the clutch).
Folks seem to have adopted the new designation. HOWEVER... the last I heard, the world governing body which oversees the allocation of scientific names, bounced the paper, asking for more evidence before recommending the name change be made. This body only meets once every five years, hence it's a very drawn-out process to resubmit.
I don't know the latest on this situation and I'm not science geek, so there may have been further developments that I don't know about.
However, that might be why you're finding more than one scientific name applied to Corn Snakes.
Anery (Anerthrythrism) is indeed a genetic variation - it's refers to the colour of the Corn Snake.
Yes, an Anery can produce Normal (red/brown/orange) or Amel (oranges/pinks/white) babies. To produce Anerys, both of the parents have to be carrying the Anery trait. If an Anery is mated with a Normal, then the offspring will look Normal. If an Anery is carrying the Amel trait, then if mated with an Amel (or another Corn carrying the Amel trait), Amel offspring will result (in a varying theoretical percentage of the clutch).
Hexadeci
Paranoid After Midnight
(Forgive me if this turns into a double post, I think the internet ate my first attempt, but it could just be slow).
Well I don't know the history of the discovery of anery, but here's a summary of the biology that might help. A quick review of some basic Mendelian genetics should help out here, and would be a good little intro for the kiddies. You are correct that anery (anerthrythrism) is due to a genetic variation in corn snakes. First, consider the difference between phenotype (the physical appearance of an animal) and genotype (the underlying genetic code the animal caries). Think of it like the difference between the words you read describing the way something looks (like a genotype) and the picture you envision from reading the words (like a phenotype, influenced by genotype). So the anery phenotype of corn snake is characterized by a drastic reduction of red pigmentation (which is where the name comes from), resulting in a snake that looks mostly black and white, with perhaps some yellow as well. The genotype that produces this appearance is linked to a recessive gene. So anery and normal corn snakes are the same species, and you could think of anery as a sort of mutation that happens to be beneficial. Since they are the same species, their scientific names (genus/species, or binomial nomenclature, if you like the jargon) are the same.
Mendelian genetics time: In general, many phenotypical traits are controlled by a pair of alleles that together make up a gene. When two animals mate, the offspring inherits one allele from each parent to create the gene. Alleles can interact with each other in different ways when they are different. Sometimes one overrides the other (dominant), sometimes one is overridden by the other (recessive), and sometimes they blend together (co-dominant). For corn snakes, from numerous breeding trials done in the trade, evidence shows that anery is a recessive trait to "normal type" (where the normal type is considered the classic red and black and orange and yellow and white corn snake), and conversely, normal is dominant to anery. That means that if a snake has one anery allele and one normal, it will look like a normal colored snake (since normal dominates anery). Only if the snake has both anery alleles will it look like an anery.
We can symbolize the normal allele as N (capital to remind us it's dominant), and the anery allele as a (lower case to remember it's recessive). So the genotypes to phenotypes are as follows:
NN : Two normal alleles, so corn snake looks normal.
Na : Normal dominates anery, so corn snake looks normal.
aa : Two anery alleles, so corn snake looks anery.
The recessiveness of the anery allele is key to the confusion about why it sometimes looks like anery skips generations. Punnet squares are fun ways to visualize theoretical breeding results.
--| N | a <-- One parent goes across the top.
--+---+----
N | NN| Na
--+---+----
a | Na| aa
^----------------- Other parent goes on one side.
The four squares in the middle in bold are the potential offspring that could result from this cross. The red ones (NN and Na) will all look like normal corn snakes, and only the black one (aa) will look like anery. So that is how you can get anery snakes from two parents that look normal.
Here's how you can get normal offspring when one parent looks anery: If the normal looking parent has one anery allele, it will look like a normal, and still be able to pass on the anery allele to it's offspring. The offspring will automatically get one anery allele from the anery looking parent (since it must have two anery alleles). So from one anery looking parent and one normal looking parent that carries anery, you can get both normal and anery looking snakes. The punnet square is left as an exercise to the reader
.
So I don't know how much time you get with the kiddies, but if you present it well the quick will understand and even the slowest get the idea that snakes are cool and also can be mutants which makes them even cooler. Anery is just one of the many genetic mutations that affect corn snake color and appearance, and when you think about and start making combinations of all of them, you get a ridiculously large number of surprising appearances, all under the same species, which appeals to those of us who like pretty things .
Here's a website with a photo gallery that shows a nice little cross section of the variety found in this one species:
http://www.cornsnake.net/photo-gallery.html
Hope that wall of text was at least mildly helpful. :sidestep:
Well I don't know the history of the discovery of anery, but here's a summary of the biology that might help. A quick review of some basic Mendelian genetics should help out here, and would be a good little intro for the kiddies. You are correct that anery (anerthrythrism) is due to a genetic variation in corn snakes. First, consider the difference between phenotype (the physical appearance of an animal) and genotype (the underlying genetic code the animal caries). Think of it like the difference between the words you read describing the way something looks (like a genotype) and the picture you envision from reading the words (like a phenotype, influenced by genotype). So the anery phenotype of corn snake is characterized by a drastic reduction of red pigmentation (which is where the name comes from), resulting in a snake that looks mostly black and white, with perhaps some yellow as well. The genotype that produces this appearance is linked to a recessive gene. So anery and normal corn snakes are the same species, and you could think of anery as a sort of mutation that happens to be beneficial. Since they are the same species, their scientific names (genus/species, or binomial nomenclature, if you like the jargon) are the same.
Mendelian genetics time: In general, many phenotypical traits are controlled by a pair of alleles that together make up a gene. When two animals mate, the offspring inherits one allele from each parent to create the gene. Alleles can interact with each other in different ways when they are different. Sometimes one overrides the other (dominant), sometimes one is overridden by the other (recessive), and sometimes they blend together (co-dominant). For corn snakes, from numerous breeding trials done in the trade, evidence shows that anery is a recessive trait to "normal type" (where the normal type is considered the classic red and black and orange and yellow and white corn snake), and conversely, normal is dominant to anery. That means that if a snake has one anery allele and one normal, it will look like a normal colored snake (since normal dominates anery). Only if the snake has both anery alleles will it look like an anery.
We can symbolize the normal allele as N (capital to remind us it's dominant), and the anery allele as a (lower case to remember it's recessive). So the genotypes to phenotypes are as follows:
NN : Two normal alleles, so corn snake looks normal.
Na : Normal dominates anery, so corn snake looks normal.
aa : Two anery alleles, so corn snake looks anery.
The recessiveness of the anery allele is key to the confusion about why it sometimes looks like anery skips generations. Punnet squares are fun ways to visualize theoretical breeding results.
--| N | a <-- One parent goes across the top.
--+---+----
N | NN| Na
--+---+----
a | Na| aa
^----------------- Other parent goes on one side.
The four squares in the middle in bold are the potential offspring that could result from this cross. The red ones (NN and Na) will all look like normal corn snakes, and only the black one (aa) will look like anery. So that is how you can get anery snakes from two parents that look normal.
Here's how you can get normal offspring when one parent looks anery: If the normal looking parent has one anery allele, it will look like a normal, and still be able to pass on the anery allele to it's offspring. The offspring will automatically get one anery allele from the anery looking parent (since it must have two anery alleles). So from one anery looking parent and one normal looking parent that carries anery, you can get both normal and anery looking snakes. The punnet square is left as an exercise to the reader
.So I don't know how much time you get with the kiddies, but if you present it well the quick will understand and even the slowest get the idea that snakes are cool and also can be mutants which makes them even cooler
. Anery is just one of the many genetic mutations that affect corn snake color and appearance, and when you think about and start making combinations of all of them, you get a ridiculously large number of surprising appearances, all under the same species, which appeals to those of us who like pretty things .Here's a website with a photo gallery that shows a nice little cross section of the variety found in this one species:
http://www.cornsnake.net/photo-gallery.html
Hope that wall of text was at least mildly helpful. :sidestep:
The first I can ever recall hearing about wild populations of the Anerythristic corn snakes, there was a major population of them in southwest Florida, seemingly centered in an area around Lehigh Acres somewhat east of Ft. Myers. There was also a lone specimen captured in an abandoned building near Wilmington, NC that I was aware of, but do not know if other specimens were captured later.
The "Type B Anerythristic", which we now call "Charcoal" was originally called the "Pine Island Corn" by Bill and Kathy Love, for the obvious reason that the original specimen they obtained came from that area. Pine Island is coincidentally due West of Ft. Myers.
Then there was the Caramel Corn, which appears to be a form of Anerythrism that came from a wild caught corn that I purchased in a mom and pop pet shop in Cape Coral, FL. Cape Coral, interestingly enough is right between Ft. Myers and Cape Coral.
And lastly, we have the Lavender corn, which also lacks red and orange pigments, that was originally called "Mocha" that came from a wild caught individual corn that I captured in Murdock, FL which is about 20 miles northwest of Ft. Myers.
Seems that particular area has been a hotbed of genetic divergence in cornsnakes in the past.
The "Type B Anerythristic", which we now call "Charcoal" was originally called the "Pine Island Corn" by Bill and Kathy Love, for the obvious reason that the original specimen they obtained came from that area. Pine Island is coincidentally due West of Ft. Myers.
Then there was the Caramel Corn, which appears to be a form of Anerythrism that came from a wild caught corn that I purchased in a mom and pop pet shop in Cape Coral, FL. Cape Coral, interestingly enough is right between Ft. Myers and Cape Coral.
And lastly, we have the Lavender corn, which also lacks red and orange pigments, that was originally called "Mocha" that came from a wild caught individual corn that I captured in Murdock, FL which is about 20 miles northwest of Ft. Myers.
Seems that particular area has been a hotbed of genetic divergence in cornsnakes in the past.
WOW - I love this forum. I am a bit confused when we talk about "populations" of Anery snakes - since if it is a genetic variation then they would not really be considred a population, would they? Like an albino animal or a naked rart (I have one). Naken rats would happen on in XXX rats and would be the same species and sub-species as the others, but would look different. Maybe a lot of Anery snakes are found in one area because many of them are breeding and producing Anery young...but if I have this straight, there would also be regular (orange) corns all over the place also?
What do they tend to eat in Florida? I always talk about corn snakes showing up in corn bins and getting their name that way. I need to get some Indian corn to show the comparison also.
What do they tend to eat in Florida? I always talk about corn snakes showing up in corn bins and getting their name that way. I need to get some Indian corn to show the comparison also.