Can anyone tell me if you know if the desert king snakes always have multiple different patterns or if they are usually all looking alike. A snake I have helped Identified looked similar to the one I saw a few days ago, but when it says its desert king snake the patterns on that snake are different than the ones on the snake.
They have variable patterns. Some look similar to each other, some dont.
Learning the variation inherent in a species comes with experience. Feltia jaculifera doesn’t have a lot of variation ( Species Feltia jaculifera - Dingy Cutworm Moth - Hodges#10670 - BugGuide.Net), but looks like a number of other Feltia spp. Some are extremely variable - Moth Photographers Group – Euxoa ochrogaster – 10801 (msstate.edu). Keep in mind that lighting conditions and picture quality can introduce variability as well. Some folks I know routinely take terrible pictures, but I’ve learned to work around that. Again, only experience!