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Chilabothrus fordii (GÜNTHER, 1861)

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Higher TaxaBoidae (Boinae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesChilabothrus fordii fordii (GÜNTHER 1861)
Chilabothrus fordii agametus (SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974)
Chilabothrus fordii manototus (SCHWARTZ 1979) 
Common NamesE: Hispaniolan Desert Boa, Ford’s Boa; agametus: Môle St.-Nicolas boa; manototus: Île à Caprit boa
G: Fords (Schlank-) Boa 
SynonymPelophilus fordii GÜNTHER 1861: 142
Pelophilus fordii GÜNTHER 1861: 189
Chilabothrus maculatus FISCHER 1888: 33
Epicrates fordi — BOULENGER 1893: 98
Epicrates fordii — SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974: 104
Epicrates fordii fordii — SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974: 106
Epicrates fordi — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 605
Epicrates fordii — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 197
Chilabothrus fordi — REYNOLDS et al. 2013
Epicrates fordii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 273
Chilabothrus fordii fordii — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 11
Chilabothrus fordii — REYNOLDS et al. 2023

Chilabothrus fordii agametus (SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974)
Epicrates fordii agametus SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974: 110
Epicrates fordii agametus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1988
Chilabothrus fordii agametus — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 11

Chilabothrus fordii manototus (SCHWARTZ 1979)
Epicrates fordi manototus SCHWARTZ 1979
Epicrates fordi manototus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1988
Chilabothrus fordii manototus — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 11 
DistributionHispaniola (Haiti, Dominican Republic)

fordi: Plaine de Cul de Sac-Valle de Neiba in Haiti and Repûblica Dominicana; Cap-Haïtien in northern Haiti; Île de la Gonâve; Isla Saona. Type locality: "Western Africa"; restricted by Sheplan and Schwartz, 1974, to the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, Département de l'Ouest, Haiti, but corrected to "República Dominicana" by Wetherbee, 1987.

agametus: Haiti; Type locality: "Môle St.-Nicolas, Département du Nord-Ouest, Haiti.”

manototus: Haiti, Île à Cabrit; Type locality: "Île à Cabrit, Departement de l'Ouest, Haiti”  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.1.55
Holotype: MCZ 62656, adult male [agametus]
Holotype: CM 60519, adult female [manototus] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1982 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentFor illustrations see Cochran, 1941; Mehrtens, 1987; Tolson, 1987.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after George Henry Ford (1809-1876), a South African-born artist. Sir Andrew Smith employed him to make drawings and paintings of specimens he collected, and Ford was also employed by the Cape Town Museum (1825) and later at the British Museum.

C. f. agametus was named after Greek for "bachelor" in reference to the unique male holotype.

C. f. manototus was named after Greek Greek for most rare, from Greek manos = thin, rare, and Latin totus = whole, all. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Biswas, A., Ghosh, A., & Agashe, M. 2025. In ‘hot’pursuit: exploring the evolutionary ecology of labial pits in boas and pythons. Proceedings B, 292(2045), 20250199 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Bulian,J. 1987. Epicrates fordii - eine Riesenschlange für kleine Terrarien. Herpetofauna 9 (48): 14-17 - get paper here
  • Cochran, D. M. 1934. Herpetological collections made in Hispaniola by the Utowana Expedition. Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 8: 163-188
  • Cochran, D.M. 1941. The herpetology of Hispaniola. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 177: vii + 398 pp. - get paper here
  • Einolf, S. 2008. Epicrates fordii - eine Riesenschlange in Miniaturausgabe. Reptilia (Münster) 13 (69): 64-66 - get paper here
  • Fischer, J.G. 1888. Über eine Kollektion Reptilien und Amphibien von Hayti. Jahrb. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst. 5: 23-45. - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1861. On a new species of the family Boidae. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 8: 189 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1861. On a new species of the family Boidae. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1861: 142 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Henderson, R. W. and R. Powell. 2004. Epicrates fordii. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (800): 1-3 - get paper here
  • Landestoy T., Miguel A.; R. Graham Reynolds & Robert W. Henderson 2021. A SMALL NEW ARBOREAL SPECIES OF WEST INDIAN BOA (BOIDAE; CHILABOTHRUS) FROM SOUTHERN HISPANIOLA. Breviora 571 (1): 1-20 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Living snakes of the world in color. Sterling Publ. Co., hic., New York, NY: 480 pp.
  • Powell, R. & Incháustegui, S.J. 2009. Conservation of the herpetofauna of the Dominican Republic. Applied Herpetology 6: 103–122 - get paper here
  • Reynolds, R. Graham and Robert W. Henderson 2018. Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology Sep 2018, Vol. 162, No. 1: 1-58. - get paper here
  • Reynolds, R.G.; Matthew L. Niemiller; S. Blair Hedges; Alex Dornburg; Alberto R. Puente-Rolón; Liam J. Revell 2013. Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of West Indian boid snakes (Chilabothrus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - get paper here
  • REYNOLDS, ROBERT GRAHAM; ROBERT W. HENDERSON, LUIS M. DÍAZ, TOMÁS M. RODRÍGUEZ-CABRERA AND ALBERTO R. PUENTE-ROLÓN 2023. Boas of the West Indies. Comstock Publishing / Cornell U Press - get paper here
  • Schulz, M. 2010. Epicrates fordii (GÜNTHER, 1861) im Terrarium. Elaphe 18 (2): 51-56
  • Schulz, Michaela & Marco Schulz 2010. Paarungsauslöser bei Riesenschlangen. Draco 11 (44): 18-22 - get paper here
  • Schwartz, A. 1979. The herpetofauna of Île à Cabrit, Haiti, with the description of two new subspecies. Herpetologica 35 (3): 248-255. - get paper here
  • Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1988. West Indian Amphibian and Reptiles: A Checklist. Milwaukee Publ. Mus. Contr. Biol. Geol. No. 74: 264 pp. - get paper here
  • Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 720 pp.
  • Sheplan, B.R., and Schwartz, A. 1974. Hispaniolan boas of the genus Epicrates (Serpentes, Boidae) and their Antillean relationships. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 45:57-143.
  • Tolson, P.J. 1987. Phylogenetics of the boid snake genus Epicrates and Caribbean vicariance theory. Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan (715): 1-68. - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
 
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