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Chilabothrus gracilis FISCHER, 1888

IUCN Red List - Chilabothrus gracilis - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaBoidae (Boinae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesChilabothrus gracilis gracilis (FISCHER 1888)
Chilabothrus gracilis hapalus (SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974) 
Common NamesHispaniola Boa; gracilis: Dominican Republic vine boa; hapalus: Tiburon vine boa 
SynonymChilabothrus gracilis FISCHER 1888: 35
Epicrates gracilis — BOULENGER 1893: 98
Epicrates gracilis gracilis — SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974: 114
Epicrates gracilis gracilis — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1988
Epicrates gracilis — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 606
Epicrates gracilis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 197
Chilabothrus gracilis — REYNOLDS et al. 2013
Epicrates gracilis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 273
Chilabothrus gracilis gracilis — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 12
Chilabothrus gracilis — REYNOLDS et al. 2023

Chilabothrus gracilis hapalus (SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974)
Epicrates gracilis hapalus SHEPLAN & SCHWARTZ 1974: 117
Epicrates gracilis hapalus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1988
Chilabothrus gracilis hapalus — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 12 
DistributionHispaniola (Haiti, Dominican Republic)

gracilis: Hispaniola; north of the Plaine de Cul de Sac-Valle de Neiba, but only from scattered localities. Type locality: Cap-Haïtien, Département du Nord, Haiti.

hapalus: Haiti; Tiburon Peninsula east to Port-au-Prince and Jacmel; Type locality: Camp Perrin, Departement du Sud, Haiti. Specimens from the east coast of the Peninsula de Barahona may represent intergrades between the 2 subspecies.  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesSyntypes: lost, formerly in ZMH, now destroyed.
Holotype: MCZ 125602, adult male; Paratypes: (n=21) Haiti: ASFS X3243-49, X3251, same data as holotype; ASFS X2805-06,
same locality as holotype, July 24, 1962, D. C. Leber, native collectors; MCZ 64781, Mayette, near Jeremie, Dept, du Sud, December 12, 1960, L. Whiteman; ASFS V25005, 11.2 km W Jeremie, Dept, du Sud, June 19, 1971, R. Thomas; MCZ 65095-97, Ca Ira, Dept, de l’Ouest, March 15, 1961, L. Whiteman; MCZ 116757-59, Leogclne, Dept, de l’Ouest, spring, 1969, collector unknown; USNM 117277, Diquini, Dept, de l’Ouest, March 17, 1943, A. Curtiss; USNM 123987, Diquini, Dept, de l’Ouest, November 23, 1946, A. Curtiss; USNM 118035, near Port-au-Prince, Dept, de l’Ouest, August 1943, A. Curtiss. [hapalus] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2266 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentFor illustrations see Cochran 1941; Henderson and Schwartz, 1984; Tolson, 1987.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “gracilis”, meaning small or lanky, or gracile.

C. g. hapalus was named after Latin/Greek "hapalus (delicate and tender)" in reference to the nature of these snakes. 
References
  • 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
  • Cochran, D.M. 1941. The herpetology of Hispaniola. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 177: vii + 398 pp. - 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
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 - 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 Schwartz, A. 1984. A guide to the identification of the amphibians and reptiles of Hispaniola. Spec. PubI. Milwaukee Public Mus. Biol. and Geol. (4):1-70.
  • Henderson, R.W.and R. Powell 2002. Epicrates gracilis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (754): 1-4 - get paper here
  • Landestoy, M., & De Lillo, P. B. 2025. A new locality and reproductive record for the Hispaniolan Gracile Boa (Chilabothrus gracilis). Reptiles & Amphibians, 32(1), e24262-e24262
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 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
  • 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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