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Box 5638 Gainesville, FL 32627-5638, USA ARTICLES 569 ARTICLES Herpetological Review, 2014, 45(4), 569–577. © 2014 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles A New Report of Albinism in the Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), and a Review of Existing Records: Is There a Geographic Bias in Observations? Albinism is one of the most striking aberrations of body color in reports of albinism are scarce for most individual species, limiting vertebrates, arising from an absence of melanin in the integument the potential to test hypotheses for the biological significance of (McCardle 2012). Errors at any of several steps in the pathway of albinism, and integumentary coloration more generally. melanosynthesis can block the production of melanin in the skin, One exception to this generalization is the Common European largely (but not exclusively) as a result of autosomal recessive Adder (Vipera berus). Krecsák (2008) found evidence that albinism mutations (Bechtel 1995). In mammals, oculocutaneous albinism in this widely distributed species was more common in the is associated with the expression of white skin and pale yellow hair northern part of its range (i.e., Scandinavia) than in the south due to a lack of accessory pigments in these structures (Bechtel (central and southern Europe). Several possible explanations were 1995; Carden et al. 1998). In contrast, squamate reptiles normally invoked to explain this pattern: high local densities might provide possess additional classes of long-wavelength pigment in the protection to albinos by dilution effect; the reduced species integument expressed independently of melanin: pteridines, diversity and population sizes of mammalian and avian snake which are naturally produced in the dermis, and carotenoids, predators at northern latitudes further reduce predation pressure which must be acquired in the diet but may be secondarily stored on albinos; and offshore islands, the source of several specimens, in the dermis (Bechtel 1995). As a consequence, albino squamates may be linked to increased rates of albinism due to genetic drift that retain these accessory pigments typically exhibit yellow or red mechanisms, inbreeding, or both (Krecsák 2008). skin (xanthic albinism; “albino” sensu Bechtel 1995). The complete Another possible explanation is that populations at northern lack of endogenous integumentary pigment in squamates (i.e., no latitudes may be less vulnerable to negative effects of UV melanin or pteridine) is termed leucism, and the skin of leucistic radiation, diminished at northern latitudes relative to the tropics. reptiles is white (Bechtel 1995). Leucistic reptiles are also often This hypothesis has been invoked to explain the reduction of referred to as albinos, especially in the older literature (McCardle integumentary melanin in human populations at northern 2012). However, xanthic albinos and axanthic albinos (i.e., latitudes as compared with those found near the equator leucistics) are phenotypically distinct, and the latter are especially (Jablonski and Chaplin 2010), but conceivably could help explain uncommon (Bechtel 1991). elevated frequencies of albinism at high latitudes in some other Reports of albinism in reptiles have been published on an vertebrate groups. We note that some ectothermic organisms occasional basis throughout the last century (e.g., Hensley 1959; exhibit increased melanism in populations at higher latitudes, Dyrkacz 1981 and references therein), but multiple records for apparently as an adaptation for increased thermoregulatory an individual species remain the exception rather than the rule efficiency (e.g., Clusella Trullas et al. 2007). This overall pattern, (Bechtel and Bechtel 1981; Krecsák 2008). The major reason is however, is not incompatible with relaxed selection on albinos via that albinos are rare: perhaps as few as 1 in 30,000 individuals reduction in UV-induced skin damage. in wild populations of a given species may exhibit the condition The Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) is one of (Bechtel 1995). With the possible exception of species that inhabit the most wide ranging reptiles in North America, found from aphotic environments (Gross et al. 2009; McCardle 2012), albinos Florida and southern Quebec in the east, to California and British are thought to experience reduced fitness relative to non-albino Columbia in the west (Rossman et al. 1996). Isolated populations conspecifics, ensuring that the frequency of albinos remains low are known as far south as northern Mexico, and as far north as the (Bechtel 1995; Krecsák 2008). At least partly as a consequence, Northwest Territories of Canada. The latter populations represent the most northerly known for any snake in the Western Hemisphere BARRY P. STEPHENSON* (Rossman et al. 1996). Twelve subspecies are presently recognized (e-mail: [email protected]) in this taxon, of which the most widely distributed is the Eastern KEVIN M. DRACE Garter Snake, T. s. sirtalis (Rossman et al. 1996). (e-mail: e-mail: [email protected]) In April 2013, a female albino Eastern Garter Snake T. s. sirtalis Department of Biology, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia 31207, USA was discovered by one of us (KMD) in a residential neighborhood *Corresponding author in Macon, Georgia, USA. Following this discovery, we reviewed existing reports of albinism in natural populations of T. sirtalis Herpetological Review 45(4), 2014 570 ARTICLES paneling of the side of the house where it was collected. The appearance of this specimen coincided with other observations of snakes in the immediate area, probably a function of the BY K. M. DRACE onset of the spring breeding season in this species (Reed and PHOTO PHOTO Gibbons 2008). After capture, the snake was placed in a dark, cool environment until morphometric data could be collected two days later. We then conducted a review of existing records of albinism and leucism in both T. sirtalis (Table 1) and other Thamnophis species (Table 2), limiting our search to records described in published reports, as well as searches