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Tropidophis hendersoni HEDGES & GARRIDO, 2002

IUCN Red List - Tropidophis hendersoni - Critically Endangered, CR

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Higher TaxaTropidophiidae, Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Cuban Khaki Trope 
SynonymTropidophis hendersoni HEDGES & GARRIDO 2002: 158
Tropidophis hendersoni — RODRIGUEZ-SCHETTINO et al. 2013
Wellsboa (Tonysilvaboa) hendersoni — HOSER 2013
Tropidophis hendersoni — WALLACH et al. 2014: 754 
DistributionE Cuba

Type locality: Guarda la Vaca, Holguín Province, Cuba (21°07’35’’ N, 77° 49’ 55’’ W)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: MCZ 47896, adult female, collected by “Clench and Alayo” on 14 August 1945. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This species of Tropidophis is distinguished from all others by a combination of scalation and coloration. With its relatively high number of ventral scales (190), midbody scale rows (25), and pattern of dorsal spots, it requires comparison with the following West Indian taxa: Tropidophis bucculentus, Tropidophis caymanensis, Tropidophis h. haetianus, Tropidophis haetianus stejnegeri, Tropidophis maculatus, Tropidophis melanurus, Tropidophis morenoi, and Tropidophis pilsbryi galacelidus. The species of the melanurus group (T. bucculentus, T. caymanensis, and T. melanurus) with those characters can be separated from T. hendersoni by their relatively large and robust bodies (maximum SVL 512-957 mm vs 280 mm in adult holotype of T. hendersoni), predominantly striped patterns, and two rows of spots (vs 10 in T. hendersoni) if spotting is present. From T. maculatus, it is distinguished by having a blunt snout (tapered in T. maculatus) dorsal spots in contact at middorsum (not in contact in I. maculatus), lacking a dark stripe on side of head (present and bold in T. maculatus), and almost completely lacking ventral pigmentation (spotted venter in T. maculatus). From Tropidophis pillsbryi galacelidus, it has a higher number of ventrals (190 vs 177-186 in T. p galacelidus) and lower number of anterior scale rows (23 vs 25-27 in T. p. galacelidus). From T. morenoi (Hedges et al., 2001), T. hendersoni has 48-52 body spots in 10 rows (versus 38-39 body bands and six rows in T. morenoi), has 25 middorsal scale rows (vs 23), and nearly completely lacks ventral pigmentation (boldly spotted in T. morenoi). None of the above mentioned taxa bear any resemblance to T. hendersoni, but they are mentioned and compared for reasons of objectivity. As noted previously (Schwartz and Marsh, 1960; Schwartz, 1975), the species that requires closest comparison is T. haetianus. Except for one specimen of T. h. stejnegeri with 190 ventrals, the Jamaican subspecies of T. haetianus have fewer ventrals (163-189). Also, they rarely (4/46 specimens) have as few as 23 anterior scale rows and usually (32/45 specimens) have fewer than 19 posterior scale rows. The Jamaican subspecies most similar to T. hendersoni, T. h. stejnegeri, has a pointed snout (blunt in T. hendersoni), a dark head (pale in T. hendersoni), a reddish-brown middorsal zone (apparently absent in T. hendersoni, although some minor fading of specimen may have occurred) and ventral blotches (absent in T. hendersoni). The subspecies requiring the closest comparison are those occurring on Hispaniola (problems in the taxonomy of T. haetianus are discussed below but do not have a direct affect on this diagnosis). Tropidophis hendersoni can be distinguished from Hispaniolan T. haetianus by its separation of the parietal scales, which are in contact in nearly all (189/193) Hispaniolan T. haetianus, its small body size (280 mm SVL in the adult female T. hendersoni versus 552 maximum SVL in females of T. haetianus), its larger eyes (EYE/ HW 0.279 vs 0.217-0.270 in Hispaniolan T. haetianus; N = 14, including individuals smaller and larger than T. hendersoni holotype), its pale head (dark in Hispaniolan T. haetianus), and the absence of a lateral head stripe (present in Hispaniolan T. haetianus). The dorsal scale row count of T. hendersoni, 23-25-19, also stands in contrast with most Hispaniolan T. haétianus, which have 25 anterior rows and 27 midbody scale rows. (Hedges & Garrido 2002)


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CommentSynonymy: Initially, the type specimen of Tropidophis hendersoni was assigned to Tropidophis haetianus (then thought to include snakes from Hispanola, Jamaica, and Cuba).

Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024. 
EtymologyNamed after Robert W. Henderson, curator of amphibans and reptiles, Milwaukee Public Museum. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Díaz, L. M. y Cádiz, A. 2020. A new species of Tropidophis (Squamata: Tropidophiidae) and molecular phylogeny of the Cuban radiation of the genus. Novitates Caribaea (16): 1-19; doi: 10.33800/nc.vi16.222 - get paper here
  • Hedges, S. B. & O. H. Garrido 2002. A new snake of the genus Tropidophis (Tropidophiidae) from eastern Cuba. Journal of Herpetology 36 (2): 157-161 - get paper here
  • Hedges, S.B. 2002. Morphological variation and the definition of species in the snake genus Tropidophis (Serpentes, Tropidophiidae). Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. London (Zool.) 68 (2): 83-90 - get paper here
  • Hoser, R.T. 2013. A reassessment of the Tropidophiidae, including the creation of two new tribes and the division of Tropidophis Bibron, 1840 into six genera, and a revisiting of the Ungaliophiinae to create two subspecies within Ungaliophis panamensis Schmidt, 1933. Australasian J. Herpetol. 17: 22-34 - get paper here
  • Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here
  • Rodríguez Schettino, Lourdes, Carlos A. Mancina & Vilma Rivalta González 2013. REPTILES OF CUBA: CHECKLIST AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS. Smithsonian Herp. Inf. Serv. (144): 1-96 - get paper here
  • Torres, J., R. Powell, and O. H. Garrido 2017. Tropidophis hendersoni. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (907): 1-8 - 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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