Category Archives: Recommended reading

A new Tropidophis is described from the Dominican Republic

Conservation, Natural History, Recommended reading, Tropidophis

The new Tropidophis is to be named Tropidophis leonae sp. nov., the Jaragua Golden Trope, after Dominican biologist Yolanda M. Leon, a conservation advocate who logistically supported the project. The work was accomplished by Miguel A. Landestoy T. in a single author paper – Bravo! . The author is also the discoverer of Chilabothrus ampelophis (see: ).
This new species is smaller and laterally compressed when compared to the only other Trope on the large island, Tropidophis haetianus.  It has a higher ventral count, differs in head width, neck width, color and pattern.
The Trope was found preying on tadpoles and small toadlets in several inches of water in a limestone hole.  It is found only from the karst foothills near Pedernales Province.  This brings the number of Tropidophis to 35, with six of them living on the mainland.  There is so much work to be done with this genus.  Who will take up the monumental challenge?
The new paper can be found here.

Tropidophis leonae, sp. nov., 2023.

Citations

A new species of dwarf boa, Tropidophis cacuangoae sp. nov., from the Upper Amazon Basin

Conservation, Natural History, Recommended reading, Tropidophis

This new Tropidophis species was found while examining a series of snakes from the Andes of Ecuador.  The new species is tentatively placed as a sister-clade to Tropdophis taczanowskyi.  More research is needed as the sequences for the mainland species are  absent in the database.  “Cacuangoae” is Latinized in honor of human rights Ecuadoran activist Dolores Cacuango.
This new Trope brings the number of valid species to 34, with six of those found on the mainland.  On the mainland, the Tropes are evenly divided with three on the Atlantic highland forest range of eastern Brazil and three on the West side of the continent in montane tropical forests of Ecuador and Peru; yet east of the Andes.  It is interesting all are  found at higher and cooler elevations.
This paper highlights the need for more work on the Genus-there is little to no sequencing available for the genus in its entirety.  That work would clarify some species validity issues, allow candidate species to be described, invalidate others and, most likely, raise a whole new littany of questions about the genus .

Male holotype Tropidophis cacuangoae sp. nov.

Read the new paper published in the European Journal of Taxonomy 854: 1-107 (2022) here.

Citations

 

Pre-order available for “Boas of the West Indies: Evolution, Natural History, and Conservation”

Boa, Chilabothrus, Conservation, Corallus, Natural History, Recommended reading, Tropidophis

By R. Graham Reynolds, Robert W. Henderson, Luis M. Diaz, Tomas M. Rodriguez-Cabrera and Alberto R. Puente-Rolon.  Forward by Jonathan B. Losos.  Hardcover $59.95
ISBN13: 9781501765452
ISBN10: 1501765450
Publication date: 03/15/2023
Pages: 288
Illustrations: 122 color photos, 21 maps, 3 charts, 2 graphs
Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 0 in
Pre-order here:
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765452/boas-of-the-west-indies/#bookTabs=4

Reptiles and Amphibians, Vol 28, No. 3, December 2021 issue

Natural History, Recommended reading, Tropidophis

This particular issue has four articles on the Genus Tropidophis.  They are:

Giant dwarfs: Very large giant tropes Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), and new maximum size records for the species.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15965

New prey records for two snakes of the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae) from urban habitats in La Habana, Cuba.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15858

Predation on murid rodents by the Giant Trope, Tropidophis melanurus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on predation of mammals by snakes of the genus Tropidophis
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15876

Westernmost record of the Spotted Red Trope, Tropidophis maculatus (Squamata: Tropidophiidae), with comments on the Tropidophis species assemblage from the Guanahacabibes Peninsula.
https://journals.ku.edu/reptilesandamphibians/article/view/15857

Individual PDF’s can be downloaded from each link.

Recommended Reading

Recommended reading, ,

In 1990 Dr. Richard Ross and Gerald Marzec published 10 years of data in what was to become the first book to provide detailed research on maintaining and breeding pythons and boas.  The West Indian Boas are included in depth-a first for the genus.  A must read for any serious student of Boidae.

Recommended Reading

Corallus, Natural History, Recommended reading, , , , , , ,

 

Robert W. Henderson dedicated large parts of his professional life to the study of West Indian reptiles with particular focus on the Genus Corallus and herein the species Corallus grenadensis. This fascination, research and accumulated knowledge is the foundation of this synopsis reflecting the status of the current knowledge. The book is more than 400 pages strong and contains more than 300 high quality color photos, most of which never been published before.

Unsurprisingly, Henderson’s love for the species residing on the Windward Islands is shown by the fact that much more information and scientific analysis is provided on these species than on some others. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not a fault of the author, but simply a lack of data and detailed analyses that we suffer from for many of the other taxa. It’s about time to change that. 

This book is a must read for any person interested in the genus Corallus.  Get it directly from the publisher  here  or, if you are in the USA,  here.

Recommended Reading

Conservation, Natural History, Recommended reading

We assume all of our readers have a genuine interest in not only West Indian Boas but herpetofauna, in general. This book, written by two well established academic researchers in the field is worth reading. It deals with the geographically small subsection of the West Indies (St. vincent and the Grenadines) but does so in such great detail, that it is almost impossible not to learn a wealth of new things about the herpetofauna from these islands.

It contains more than 400 color photos and distribution maps of the 32 species of reptiles and amphibians that occur on the more than 40 islands of the St. Vincent Bank and the Grenada Bank. It touches also topics of conservation and provides a compilation of our current knowledge of the frogs and reptiles of the two banks and raises concerns for their futures.

ORDER it directly from the publisher (here) or another privately owned small bookshop.

 

Recommended Reading

Recommended reading

This is the first blog post in our recommended reading series.

The book is a must read for anyone with a serious interest in boas and pythons.  It covers ecology, natural history, evolution, behavior, physiology, neurology, reproductive biology, and conservation.  From a perspective of West Indian Boa aficionados, it contains several highly interesting accounts.  Support the small private publishers-buy several for your herp holiday gifts.  Available directly from the publisher here.