Well shoot. Can't argue with gentic testing to prove relationships between very similar animals. Can't argue with it at all. I did say I was a youngster. I was already well into adulthood when that was written and and DNA analysis was in it's infancy. They had certainly NOT gotten around to testing snakes before I was 18 years old.

So that leaves us with visually apparent differences. I have to admit, if I held a "ribbon" snake in my presence, I would see it as such. I would not mistake it for a "garter" snake. I've seen many garters. I've seen many ribbon snakes. There's a distinct difference even if it's not apparent to the layman or to genetics.

There's a distinct visually apparent difference. I have not seen a single ribbon snake that I could mistake for a garter. If you know what I mean.