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My wife and I have recently acquired two black rat snake females (Pantherophis obsoleta) aged seven and eight. We have been attempting to discover the literal meaning of Pantherophis but without success. Any searches that we have done simply come up with its definition as the genus name for rat snakes. From our (very!) limited knowledge of Greek, we have concluded that the literal meaning is "cat snake" but that only makes sense if one uses it for describing the species' preference for a diet of rodents.
Can you point us in the right direction? We also would like to know the literal meaning of obsoleta.
We have a bit of a deadline because we have invited some neighborhood children to a get-acquainted party (aka cotillion) on February 15. There will be refreshments and snake-related games for the youngsters and we want them to have good associations with reptiles in general and snakes in particular. This is our way of dispelling the prejudices that accompany snakes.
Thank you in advance for your help.
There seem to be more references to this snake as Elaphe obsoleta, for what it's worth.
Sue Hubbell, in A Country Year, describes obsoleta as "a term used in biology to mean indistinct".
Hi, Jonathan. Is the snake spotted, by any chance? I ask because my Greek lexicon says "panther" refers to any of several types of spotted cats. Maybe the reference is to the coloring?
Dilettante, thanks for the helpful reference to Sue Hubbell's book.
Jonathan, that sounds like a cool party. When I was a kid, I had an eastern ribbon snake, and just loved it. I think it'd be a great confidence-builder for the kids to learn to distinguish because poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. Good luck with the project!
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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