A NEW SNAKE FROM ST LUCIA 



Because the 19:19:17 scale row pattern is widespread in 

 pseudoboine snakes and is also found in most clelia we may 

 infer that it was the condition of the ancestor of this species 

 group. The 17:17:17 pattern shown by errabunda would thus 

 be interpreted as a derived feature setting it apart. However, 

 the occurrence of the 17:17:17 pattern in equatoriana and 

 scytalina and the 17:19:17 and 21:19:17 patterns within clelia 

 suggests that little significance can be attached to the scale- 

 row pattern. The most nearly special feature of the new 

 species is the high number of large spines on the hemipenis. 

 Otherwise it is close to the status of what Ackery and 

 Vane-Wright (1984) call a 'paraspecies', without any special 

 feature setting it apart. The short trachea and unmodified 

 vertebral scales by which it is distinguished are primitive 

 features found in hundreds of other species of snakes. 



Greer (1965) reports that the Grenada Clelia is diurnal, 

 unlike its mainland relatives. Clelia clelia from Grenada is 

 otherwise little different from mainland clelia; this is con- 

 firmed by Wallach's report (personal communication) that it 

 has an extended trachea. It is presumably a relatively recent 

 immigrant from South America. On the other hand erra- 

 bunda, on St Lucia, is primitive to the mainland members of 

 the clelia group. This suggests that it colonised St Lucia at an 

 early date and that its ancestral stock was later replaced on 

 the mainland by the more derived clelia. It is an example of a 

 primitive form surviving as an island relict. 



Boa constrictor occurs on St Lucia and Dominica. The two 

 island populations and the mainland form are well differenti- 

 ated from one another and are recognised as separate subspe- 

 cies (Lazell, 1964). The pit-vipers, Bothrops, on the adjacent 

 islands of St Lucia and Martinique are sufficiently differenti- 

 ated that they are recognised as full species by Lazell (1964). 

 For both Boa and Bothrops this suggests either separate 

 colonisation of the islands from the mainland or colonisation 

 of one island and passage to the other long ago. There is at 

 present no evidence that these are primitive island relicts. 



Cope (1870) is reported as saying that the "islands of 

 Martinique and Guadeloupe had become so infested with the 

 fer-de-lance" {Bothrops lanceolatus) "as to be in parts almost 

 uninhabitable, and it was chiefly on account of the danger 

 from this venomous reptile that collecting naturalists of late 

 years had so seldom visited them"! "Some means had been 

 adopted to check the increase of this pest, but with small 

 results". "Prof Cope thought that as the Oxyrhopus 

 plutnbeus (= Clelia clelia) was very numerous in Venezuela 

 and Brazil, and since it was very harmless and easily pro- 

 cured, that its introduction in large numbers into Martinique, 

 etc, would be a simple matter, and one probably to be 

 attended with good results in the diminution, at least, of this 

 enemy of agriculture". 



Lazell (1964) tells us that on both Martinique and St Lucia 

 the local Bothrops is known as 'serpent'. We may speculate 

 that prior to human arrival 'serpents' were already estab- 

 lished on St Lucia before the 'cribo' (Clelia) arrived to prey 

 upon them. 



It is said that the mongoose was introduced into St Lucia in 

 the hope that it would reduce the Bothrops. Today, although 

 the mongoose may eat Bothrops, it also eats domestic poul- 

 try. Following human disturbance, it is ironic that the indige- 

 nous 'pest', the 'serpent', is supplemented by an introduced 

 pest, the mongoose, and the indigenous biological control, 

 the 'cribo', is extinct! In the absence of this 'control' Lazell 

 (1964) reports that in some areas of St Lucia the serpent is 

 'abundant beyond belief. 



Acknowledgements. I am indebted to Van Wallach for a report on 

 a Grenada specimen of Clelia clelia and for information about other 

 species of Clelia and other xenodontine snakes. Beat Schatti loaned a 

 specimen of Clelia equatoriana for examination of the anterior 

 viscera. Ed Malnate reported on the Philadelphia Academy speci- 

 men^). Robert Henderson, David Bullock and Roger Thorpe 

 replied to a query about the status of Clelia on Dominica. David 

 Corke commented on the status of Clelia on St Lucia. Hussan Zaher 

 drew my attention to the work of Scrocchi and Vinas, identified the 

 Oxyrhopus trigeminus from 'Guyana', located specimens in the Paris 

 Museum and gave me a photocopy of a portion of Bailey's unpub- 

 lished PhD thesis. T.E. Pickring, archivist at The Natural History 

 Museum, traced the early records of Capt Sabine. Colin McCarthy 

 helped me to find my way through The Natural History Museum 

 records and read a first draft of this paper. The Museum national 

 d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, loaned two specimens. 



REFERENCES 



Ackery, P.R. & Vane-Wright, R.I. 1984. Milkweed butterflies, their Cladistics 

 and Biology. British Museum (Natural History), London. 



Barbour, T. 1930. A list of Antillean reptiles and amphibians. Zoologica, 11: 

 61-116. 



1935. Second list of Antillean reptiles and amphibians. Zoologica. 19: 



77-141. 



1937. Third list of Antillean reptiles and amphibians. Bulletin of the 



Museum of comparative Zoology 82: 1-166. 



Bullock, D.J. & Evans, P.G.H. 1988. The distribution, density and biomass of 



terrestrial reptiles in Dominica, West Indies. Journal of Zoology. 222: 



421-443. 

 Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3, 



part A. 

 Cadle, J.E. 1984. Molecular systematics of Neotropical Xenodontine snakes: I 



South American Xenodontines. Herpetologica. 40: 8-20. 

 Chippaux, J-P. 1986. Les serpents de la Guyane franchise. Editions de 



l'Orstom, Institut fran^ais de recherche scientifique pour le developpment en 



cooperation. Collection fauna tropicale. no XXVII, Paris. 

 Cope, E.D. 1870. Verbal communication' Aug 2nd. In: Proceedings of the 



Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, p. 90. 



1876. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Journal of the 



Academy of Natural Sciences. Philadelphia, 8(2), p. 131. 



Dowling, H.G. 1951. A proposed standard system of counting ventrals in 



snakes. British Journal of Herpetology, 1: 97-99. 

 Dumeril, A.-M.-C, Bibron, G. & Dumeril, A. 1854. Erpetologie generate. 



Paris. Vol. VII, part II, p. 1007. 

 Greer, A. 1965. A new subspecies of Clelia clelia (Serpentcs, Colubridae) from 



the island of Grenada. Breviora, 223: 1-6. 

 Haas, G. 1973. Muscles of the jaws and associated structures in the Rhyn- 



chocephalia and Squamata. In: Gans, C. & Parsons, T.S. (eds) Biology of the 



Reptiles. Academic Press, London. 

 Lazell, J.D. 1964. The Lesser Antillean representatives of Bothrops and 



Constrictor. Bulletin of the Museum of comparative Zoology, 132 (3): 



245-273. 

 Long, E. 1974. The serpent's tale. U.W.I. Extra mural department, P.O. Box 



306, The Morne, St Lucia. 

 McDowell, S.B. 1986. The architecture of the corner of the mouth of colubroid 



snakes. Journal of Herpetology, 20: 353-407. 

 Peters, J.A. & Orejas-Miranda, B. 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squa- 

 mata: Part I, Snakes. United States national Museum Bulletin, 297, Washing- 

 ton. 

 Roze, J.A. 1959. Taxonomic notes on a collection of Venezuelan reptiles in the 



American Museum of Natural History. American Museum Novitates, No 



1934: 1-14. 

 Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1988. West Indian amphibians and reptiles: a 



checklist. Milwaukee Public Museum, Bulletin 74, Wisconsin. 

 Scrocchi, G. & Vinas, M. 1990. El genero Clelia (Serpentes: Colubridae) en la 



Republica Argentina: revision y comentarios. Bolletino del Museo regional 



dei Scienze naturale di Torino, 8: 487-499. 

 Smith, M.A. 1943. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Amphibia, Vol. 3, 



Serpentes, Taylor & Francis, London. 

 Smith, M.A. & Bellairs, A.d'A. 1947. The head glands of snakes, with remarks 



on the evolution of the parotid gland and teeth of the Opisthoglypha. Journal 



