Being from different genera is not necessarily indicative of reproductive incompatibility. It´s difficult to get used to that reality xD The first time i heard of Pantherophis x Lampropeltis i honestly thought it was a joke.
It is entirely irrelevant in this case that they were placed in the same genus for a long time. That happened because of the cluster movement that followed a rather special concept of species. The same movement was responsible for the former Triturus and plenty of other messes in lizards and snakes. That classification had virtually no phylogenetic value. In this case, saying they are close because at one time they shared a genus is like saying that Hemorrhois hippocrepis is closely related to Coluber constrictor because they used to share a genus. Sure, Cynops /Hypselotriton are very close, but it has nothing to do with their former classification, because at some point they were all included in Triturus, even.. and that tells you nothing.
I have to disagree that such things were possible only through similar breeding behaviours, because that´s just a pre-zygotic mechanism and all non-amplexing newts (for example) have extremely similar courting behaviours. Plus, is it known in those experiements if the process ocurred "naturally" (i.e. the female chose and picked the spermatophore herself)?
The truth is that they are only possible because the mechanisms of genetic regulation are conserved and virtually the same and because of a lack of specific mechanisms that could have appeared to prevent it.
I´d be hugely interested to know if the hybrids mentioned produced fertile offspring or not and why. It would be such a fascinating thing to look at (in a lab, obviously).
What happened to the orientalis/pyrrhogaster hybrids that Jen had, do we know if those were fertile?
Angie, i doubt your boyfriend´s animals are hybrids, most likely they are not, post pictures if you can, though.
I´m afraid you are right, Molch, you are too far north to be in Winterfell, but let´s just assume winter came and it was pissed. Otherwise i can´t call you Molch Stark, and it´s just too good a name...and shiny!