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Lichanura trivirgata COPE, 1861

IUCN Red List - Lichanura trivirgata - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaBoidae (Charinaidae, Charininae), Henophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rosy Boa
gracia: Desert Rosy Boa
roseofusca: Coastal Rosy Boa
trivirgata: Mexican Rosy Boa
G: Rosenboa, Dreistreifen-Rosenboa
S: Boa del Desierto 
SynonymLichanura trivirgata COPE 1861: 304
Lichanura roseofusca COPE 1868
Lichanura myriolepis COPE 1868: 2
Lichanura trivirgata — BOULENGER 1893: 129
Lichanura roseofusca — VAN DENBURGH 1895: 138
Lichanura trivirgata — VAN DENBURGH 1895: 137
Lichanura trivirgata gracia KLAUBER 1931
Lichanura ruseofusca gracia KLAUBER 1931: 307
Lichanura roseofusca gracia — TAYLOR 1938: 489
Lichanura roseofusca gracia — CLIFF 1954
Lichanura ruseofusca gracia — TURNER 1959
Lichanura trivirgata gracia — LOOMIS & STEPHENS 1967
Lichanura ruseofusca — GORMAN & GRESS 1970
Lichanura trivirgata trivirgata — YINGLING 1982
Lichanura trivirgata gracia — YINGLING 1982
Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca — YINGLING 1982
Lichanura trivirgata gracia — STEBBINS 1985: 174
Lichanura trivirgata — STEBBINS 1985: 173
Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca — STEBBINS 1985: 174
Lichanura trivirgata saslowi (SPITERI 1987 in BARTLETT 1987)
Lichanura trivirgata arizonae SPITERI 1991
Lichanura trivirgata bostici SPITERI 1991
Charina trivirgata — KLUGE 1993
Lichanura trivirgata — LINER 1994
Charina trivirgata — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 203
Lichanura trivirgata gracia — CROTHER 2000: 65
Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca — CROTHER 2000: 65
Lichanura trivirgata saslowi — AKERET 2008
Lichanura trivirgata — WOOD et al. 2008
Lichanura trivirgata — CROTHER et al. 2012
Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca — LAITA 2013
Lichanura trivirgata — WALLACH et al. 2014: 384
Lichanura trivirgatta — ESQUERRÉ & KEOGH 2016 (in error)
Lichanura trivirgata myriolepis — SCHMIDT 2016
Lichanura trivirgata — REYNOLDS & HENDERSON 2018: 30 
DistributionUSA (S California, SW Arizona),
Mexico (Baja California, Isla Espíritu Santo, W Sonora)

gracia: USA (California, SW Arizona), Mexico (N Baja California); Type locality: Randsburg, Kern County, California.

myriolepis: Mexico (N Baja California); Type locality: ”northern part of Lower California [Mexico].”

roseofusca: Mexico (N Baja California), USA (S California); Type locality: “northern part of Lower California”.

saslowi: Mexico (Baja California Norte) [Wood et al. 2008]

trivirgata: Mexico (S Baja California, Sonora); Type locality: Cape San Lucas, Baja California.  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 15502 (Cochran 1961: 195 and USNM type catalog). Syntype: ANSP 6698 (skin only).
Holotype: SDNHM = SDSNH 2995 [gracia]
Holotype: ANSP 6700; northern part of Lower California [myriolepis]
Holotype: ANSP 6699 [roseofusca] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1734 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: The validity of SPITERI’s subspecies bostici and saslowi has been questioned by KLUGE 1993. Lichanura trivirgata arizonae is not listed by CROTHER 2000, nor by WOOD et al. 2008. We consider them as synonyms of L. trivirgata.

Illustrations: see several variants as high-res images in LAITA 2013.

Subspecies: Based on mtDNA data, WOOD et al. (2008) separated L. orcutti (including L. simplex as a synonym) as an evolutionary species from L. trivirgata (which included L. roseofusca and myriolepis as synonyms). However, they did not provide a diagnosis of this species. These author do not discuss/analyze arizonae, and mention saslowi only once and gracia a few times. These authors do not recognize gracia, roseofusca, myriolepis, and saslowi and therefore relegate them to the synonymy of L. trivirgata (although the authors of this paper do not explicitly address this issue).

Klauber (1931) noted that L. t. gracia and L. t. roseofusca ‘‘are virtually indistinguishable in scale counts”, but based the diagnosis on the color and pattern of the dorsal and lateral stripes. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that L. t. gracia populations in California (within Lineage A) are actually more closely related to L. t. roseofusca than they are to their subspecific counterparts in Arizona (=Lineage B), which makes this subspecies paraphyletic (non-exclusive) as currently described [from WOOD et al. 2008].

Distribution: see maps in Yingling 1982, Heimes 2016, Wood et al. 2008.

Type species: Lichanura trivirgata COPE 1861: 304 is the type species of the genus Lichanura COPE 1861. 
EtymologyThe specific name trivirgata is Latin, meaning three-striped.

L. roseofusca was named after Latin roseus = ruddy, and fuscus = dusky.

L. r. gracia was named after Latin gracilis = gentle.

The genus name Lichanura is derived from two Greek words, lichanos, the forefinger, and oura, tail; this may be an allusion to the body form of this snake. 
References
  • Ahvenainen, Pirjo 2008. The Rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata ssp.) in captivity. Litteratura Serpentium 28 (2): 88-101 - get paper here
  • Akeret, B. 2008. Gefahrenpotenzial Riesenschlangen. Reptilia (Münster) 13 (72): 4-12 - get paper here
  • Arnaud, Gustavo; Carmen Blazquez 2018. First Record of Lichanura trivirgata Cope, 1868 (Squamata: Boidae) from Coronados Island, Gulf of California, Mexico. Herpetology Notes 11: 1025-1026 - get paper here
  • Bakker, Henriette 2000. Egg binding in Lichanura trivirgata trivirgata. Litteratura Serpentium 20 (2): 58-59 - 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
  • Clark, Rulon W.; Ramirez, Geoff 2011. Rosy boas (Lichanura trivirgata) use chemical cues to identify female mice (Mus musculus) with litters of dependent young. The Herpetological Journal 21: 187-191 - get paper here
  • Cliff, Frank S. 1954. Snakes of the islands in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 12 (5): 67-98 - get paper here
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  • Cope, E.D. 1868. [Observations on some specimens of Vertebrata...; protocol of the Jan 21, 1868 meeting]. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 20: 2 - get paper here
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  • Gorman, George C.;Gress, Franklin 1970. Chromosome cytology of four boid snakes and a varanid lizard, with comments on the cytosystematics of primitive snakes. Herpetologica 26 (3): 308-317 - get paper here
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  • Pols, J.J. van der 1986. The husbandry and breeding of the Rosy boa Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca (Cope, 1861). Litteratura Serpentium 6 (3): 98-106 - get paper here
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  • Schmidt, Dieter 2010. Vermehrung und Zucht von Riesenschlangen. Draco 11 (44): 4-17 - get paper here
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  • Spiteri, D.E. 1991. The subspecies of Lichanura trivirgata: Why the confusion? Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 26: 153-156 - get paper here
  • Spiteri, David E. 1994. A further analysis of the Cedros Island boa, Lichanura trivirgata bostici. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 29 (11): 248-250 - get paper here
  • Spiteri, David G. 1993. The current taxonomy and captive breeding of the rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata). Vivarium 5 (3): 18-21;27;34
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Stejneger, Leonhard 1889. Description of two new species of snakes from California. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 12 (766): 95-99 - get paper here
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  • Van Denburgh, John 1898. Herpetological Notes. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc 37 (157): 139-141 - get paper here
  • Van Denburgh,J. 1895. A review of the herpetology of Lower California. Part I - Reptiles. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (2) 5: 77-163 - get paper here
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  • Wood, Dustin A.; Robert N. Fisher and Tod W. Reeder 2008. Novel patterns of historical isolation, dispersal, and secondary contact across Baja California in the Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (2): 484-502 - get paper here
  • Yingling R P 1982. Lichanura Cope. Rosy boa. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 294: 1-2 - get paper here
 
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