Boa orophias LINNAEUS, 1758

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Higher Taxa	Boidae (Boinae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Tet’chien or St. Lucian Boa G: San Lucia Boa
Synonym	Boa Orophias LINNAEUS 1758: 215 ? Boa diviniloqua — TYLER 1850: 133 Boa diviniloqua — COPE 1893: 429 Boa diviniloqua — BOULENGER 1893: 118 (non LAURENTI 1768) Constrictor constrictor orophias — AMARAL 1929: 142 Constrictor constrictor orophias — LAZELL 1964: 261 Boa constrictor orophias — STIMSON 1969 Boa constrictor orophias — REICHLING 1991 Boa constrictor orophias — BINDER & LAMP 2007 Boa orophias — BONNY 2007 Boa orophias — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 8 Boa orophias — MURPHY & CRUTCHFIELD 2019 Boa orophias — HEDGES et al. 2019
Distribution	St. Lucia Type locality: Praslin, St. Lucia.
Reproduction	ovovivparous
Types	Holotype: NRM, given as Museum de Geer (Andersson 1899, Reynolds & Henderson 2018)
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A Constrictor with a prominent snout and a convex canthus; 65 to 75 dorsal scale rows at midbody, 270 to 288 ventrals, and 27 to 31 distinct, subrectangular, dark dorsal saddles to the level of the anus; dorsal ground color rich brown; venter white with black or grey spotting pronounced; subocular stripe distinct and complete; loreal stripe largely obsolete; dark pigment on chin and infralabials not closely corresponding to the facial stripes [Lazell 1964: 261].
Comment	See also B. constrictor.
Etymology	The generic name is derived from the Latin word boa, meaning "large water snake." Linnaeus obviously did not know whether this species lived in water or not. However, Fretey 2019 stated that it stems from Latin bos, ‘cow’; ‘kind of snake’ because it feeds first by sucking cows according to Pliny the elder (Liber 8.14). The specific epithet comes from the Latin word constrictus, meaning "to constrict or contract."
References	Amaral,A. do 1930. Estudos sobre ophidios neotropicos XVIII. Lista remissiva dos ophidios da região neotropica. Mem. Inst. Butantan 4: 126-271 [1929] - get paper here Binder, S. 2002. Boa constrictor. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 96 pp. - get paper here Binder, S. & Lamp, A. 2007. Boa constrictor. Die Abgottschlange. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 207 pp. - get paper here Bonny, Klaus 2007. Die Gattung Boa. KUS-Verlag, 262 pp. [review in Elaphe 17 (1): 30] Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here Cope, E.D. 1893. Notes on some snakes from tropical America lately living in the collection of the Zoologicla Society of Philadelphia. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1893: 429-435 - get paper here Hedges SB, Powell R, Henderson RW, Hanson S, and Murphy JC 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology 67: 1–53 Lazell, James D., Jr. 1964. The Lesser Antillean representatives of Bothrops and Constrictor. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 132 (3): 245-273 - get paper here Linnaeus, C. [= Linné, C. von] 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ. 10th Edition: 824 pp. - get paper here Murphy, John C. & Tom Crutchfield 2019. Giant Snakes - A Natural History. Book Services, 345 pp. - get paper here Reichling, Steven B. 1991. The serpents of St. Lucia, Bothrops caribbae and Boa constrictor orophias. Vivarium 3 (3): 7-9;22 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 Stimson, Andrew F. 1969. Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien: Boidae (Boinae + Bolyeriinae + Loxoceminae + Pythoninae). Das Tierreich 89 xi + 1-49 Tyler, R.E. 1850. Notes on the serpents of St. Lucia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 6: 130-134 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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