Mystery Locality Boa - Page 2

jpsteele80 · 02-20-16, 02:19 PM

I don't think its a peruvian, peruvians have a nice red in there tail sometimes almost a purple, this guy is dark almost like an argentine but i know its not that either, some sort of cross id guess but have no clue

**Andy_G** · 02-20-16, 06:04 PM

Some peruvians can have a rather brown tail almost similar to BCI actually...more so than some other BCC...which is the only reason I threw it in as a guess.

Nightflight99 · 02-21-16, 06:28 AM

Alright, time to shed some light on this mystery boa. I was hoping that this guessing game would generate some discussion about color variation, which it kind of did. There were some really good guesses mentioned in this thread, with several being based on very interesting and logical interpretation of the coloration and pattern of this boa. Of course, I picked this particular boa because it is a bit of fascinating case. It stems from the infamous Charles Deering Estate, a 444-acre coastal preserve in the Cutler section of Miami, and home to the only documented established population of the genus in the United States. The population is estimated to have been established there since the 1970s, with many neonates and juveniles having been found in the park over the years. They seem to prefer pine rockland and rockland hammock as their habitat, which are unique to southern Florida.

Of course, the next question is which geographic location(s) did these invasive boas descend from? Even though this would be relatively easy to answer with molecular techniques, those data have yet to be published (if they have even been generated). With the renewed interest in this genus over the last few years, there is a reasonable chance that we will have an answer to that question sometime soon. This would be a perfect project for a Master's thesis if any of you or someone you know is interested in going to grad school...

dannybgoode · 02-21-16, 09:12 AM

Interesting. Thanks for sharing NF. Beautiful snake...

bigsnakegirl785 · 02-21-16, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightflight99

Alright, time to shed some light on this mystery boa. I was hoping that this guessing game would generate some discussion about color variation, which it kind of did. There were some really good guesses mentioned in this thread, with several being based on very interesting and logical interpretation of the coloration and pattern of this boa. Of course, I picked this particular boa because it is a bit of fascinating case. It stems from the infamous Charles Deering Estate, a 444-acre coastal preserve in the Cutler section of Miami, and home to the only documented established population of the genus in the United States. The population is estimated to have been established there since the 1970s, with many neonates and juveniles having been found in the park over the years. They seem to prefer pine rockland and rockland hammock as their habitat, which are unique to southern Florida.

Of course, the next question is which geographic location(s) did these invasive boas descend from? Even though this would be relatively easy to answer with molecular techniques, those data have yet to be published (if they have even been generated). With the renewed interest in this genus over the last few years, there is a reasonable chance that we will have an answer to that question sometime soon. This would be a perfect project for a Master's thesis if any of you or someone you know is interested in going to grad school...

If I go to grad school, I've still got a few years, but that would definitely be right up my alley!

That certainly explains why it was so hard to pinpoint what it was, and why I figured it could be a cross. It would be interesting to have a reliable test out there!

Nightflight99 · 03-18-16, 06:03 PM

Since my locality boa army is continuously growing, and this male isn't going to be easy to pair up, I've decided to surplus this particular specimen. I know that some of you are true fellow boaphiles, so before I officially post him in the various classifieds, I figured I'd give you guys a heads-up.

If any of you are interested in him, please shoot me a pm.