Oodles of Noodles

[Mehelya]

Just thought I'd share some of my adult and sub-adult Rinkhals. I am hoping that most of these will breed for me this year again.

This group should be ready next year for breeding. Just a bit small for my liking, so they are excused this season.


This pair needs to get their Barry White on again...


One of my older pairs


Another yellow pair


And I'm beginning to think these are two males...


This is a common sight when I walk into my facility, but after all the window cleaning, I still love them all...


Thanks for looking!

[Allen G. Liebenberg]

Hi Rian.Great to see your Rinkles.Also great to have indigenous stuff and not another exotic again.

[Westley Price]

Beauties.

I often wonder about the evolution of Rinkhals whether they have a common ancestor with cobras or whether they have a totally separate lineage.

[Mehelya]

Thanks Allan! I do love my spitters...

Westley, Good question. I have had a look for any phylogenetic trees containing African Elapidae, or the Rinkhals in general, and cannot find much, but I do notice that the Naja and Ophiophagus have a common starting point (see pic below). Perhaps the Rinkhals is nestled in there somewhere? Pity there is not really much information on Rinkhals in more than basic husbandry. Maybe a chat with Graham or Wolfgang is in order...



Edit:

Came across this minutes after I posted... Seems like they did branch off early on in the elapinae sub-families...

[Mehelya]

Westley, Found a complete tree for basically every reptile...

http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-13-93

Seems like a primitive cobra developed, and then from them came the Rinkhals and Naja (Point 91, Figure 24 W) split... Seems they are older than the Naja species... Food for though...

[Westley Price]

Thanx Rian, that is quite an epic publication. Need to print all those out and stick them on a wall for reference.

Cheers