[PDF] Discovery of a Remarkable New Boa from the Conception Island Bank, Bahamas | Semantic Scholar (2024)

The terrestrial squamate herpetofauna on the Cay Sal Bank are a product of dispersal from both the Great Bahamas Bank to the east and western Cuba to the south, and it is found that both Anolis and Tropidophis species are recently derived from, and likely conspecific with, west Cuban ancestors.

The discovery of this new species from Hispaniola is especially important as it appears to be among the smallest boid (Boidae) species, has an arboreal specialization, and is found in a very restricted and highly threatened habitat.

A list of 68 bird species is compiled, 14 of which are new records for Conception Island observed during surveys, and an additional nesting species is documented, bringing the total to 7 species known to breed there.

The discovery of the East Cay population of the Turks & Caicos Boa, some morphometric data, and the first record of the striped color morph from the Turks Bank are reported.

A phylogenetic analysis of these boas is conducted, finding that the Crooked-Acklins Boa is a distinct species sister to the recently described Silver Boa (C. argentum), and is not closely related to C. chrysogaster populations.

The findings suggest that, in addition to being an invalid taxon, ‘Pseudoepicrates’ cannot be referred to B. constrictor, and the extant Chilabothrus is here regarded as the most cogent generic assignment, with ChilABothrus stanolseni comb.

This work provides a comprehensive checklist of all 66 species and 33 subspecies of booid snakes recognized herein, distributed among 14 genera and six families, and evaluates taxonomy, distribution, type specimens, and conservation status.

The sizes and ages at which both sexes reach sexual maturity in nature are documented, and it is shown that the Cuban Boa reaches adulthood at a much smaller size than previously reported for captive snakes.

A continuum of color-by-pattern morphs within each pattern class (striped/spotted) in this subspecies is described which represents a much broader range of color and pattern variation in this species than has been previously recognized.

A maximum likelihood phylogenetic estimate using nine other snake mitochondrial genomes yields agreement with previous investigations into the evolutionary relationships of snakes.

...

...

This study fills a gap in the ecological knowledge of Bahamian boas and will provide important baseline data for the Big Ambergris Cay population of Turks Island Boas as this small island undergoes extensive development over the next several decades.

A genetic analysis of 53 individual E. c.

In addition to Laguna Chichancanab, this study describes species within a second remarkable species flock of specialized Cyprinodon pupfishes on San Salvador Island, where the age of this species flock is estimated at 10,000 years or less.

...

...