Saint Croix racer explained

The Saint Croix racer (Borikenophis sanctaecrucis)^[1] is a possibly extinct species of snake in the family Colubridae that is endemic to the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.

Etymology

The specific name, sanctaecrucis, refers to the island of Saint Croix,^[2] on which the holotype was collected.^[1]

Description

B. sanctaecrucis may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 102.5cm (40.4inches). It has smooth dorsal scales, which are arranged in 17 rows at midbody.^[3] The holotype has a total length of 50inches, which includes a tail 17inches long.^[4] B. sanctaecrucis is oviparous.^[1]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of B. sanctaerucis is xeric forest.

Conservation

B. sanctaecrucis is feared extinct, as it has not been recorded in over 100 years since the holotype was collected. St. Croix is a densely-populated island, and the species is a fairy large snake. If it is extinct, the most probable causes were due to predation from introduced mongooses and deforestation of its habitat. However, recent rediscoveries of other Caribbean reptiles that were also thought extinct brings hope that a small population (probably less than 50 individuals) of B. sanctaecrucis survives somewhere in St. Croix.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II. Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (Dromicus sanctæ-crucis, new combination and emendation, p. 122).
• Cope ED (1862). "Synopsis of the Species of Holcosus and Ameiva, with Diagnoses of new West Indian and South American Colubridæ". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 14: 60–82. (Alsophis sancticrucis, new species, p. 76).
• Hedges SB, Couloux A, Vidal N (2009). "Molecular phylogeny, classification, and biogeography of West Indian racer snakes of the Tribe Alsophini (Squamata, Dipsadidae, Xenodontinae)". Zootaxa 2067: 1–28. (Borikenophis sanctaecrucis, new combination).
• Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (Alsophis sanctaecrucis, p. 576).
• Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (Alsophis sancticrucis, p. 173).

Notes and References

1. www.reptile-database.org.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Alsophis sanctaecrucis, p. 251).
3. [Albert Schwartz (zoologist)|Schwartz A]
4. [Edward Drinker Cope|Cope ED]