Corallus cookii, also known as Cook's tree boa[3] or Cooke's tree boa,[4] is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Boidae. The species is endemic to the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. There are no recognized subspecies.[3]

Corallus cookii
Cook's Tree Boa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Boidae
Genus: Corallus
Species:
C. cookii
Binomial name
Corallus cookii
Gray, 1842
Synonyms[2]
  • Corallus Cookii
    Gray, 1842
  • Corallus hortulanus Melanea
    Gray, 1849
  • Corallus cookii
    Boulenger, 1893
  • Boa cooki
    Ihering, 1911
  • Boa cooki
    Griffin, 1916
  • Boa enydris cookii
    Stull, 1935
  • Boa cookii
    — Stull, 1935
  • Corallus enydris cookii
    Forcart, 1951
  • Corallus hortulanus cookii
    Roze, 1966
  • Corallus hortulanus cooki
    Stafford & Henderson, 1996
  • Corallus cooki
    — Henderson, 1997

Etymology

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The specific name, cookii, is in honor of English artist and naturalist Edward William Cooke.[4]

Description

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C. cookii is similar to C. hortulana and C. grenadensis, only smaller, with adults reaching a total length (including tail) of 5 feet (152 cm), and being mainly gray or brown in color.[5] Not more than a few specimens exist in captivity.[5] The taxonomy of the Corallus hortulanaus complex has undergone a number of revisions. The main morphological differences between C. cookii and C. hortulana are coloration and scale count. "Corallus cooki is most easily distinguished from other members of the C. hortulanus complex by its color pattern. It lacks the color variation (pale yellow, orange, red, many shades of brown) found in C. hortulanus and C. grenadensis. Likewise, the main element of the dorsal pattern is relatively constant, and it rarely occurs in populations outside of St. Vincent. The diamond-shape pattern characteristic of C. ruschenbergerii does not occur in this species. Corallus cooki is distinguishable from C. hortulanus by maximum number of dorsal scale rows: invariably less than 50 in C. cooki (39–48; x = 43.9 +/- 0.34) and almost always more than 50 in C. hortulanus (47– 63; x = 55.0 +/- 0.17; specimens with less than 50 occur occasionally in Guyana, Suriname, Bolivia, and Peru)."[6]

Reproduction

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C. cookii is oviviparous.[7]

Geographic range

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Endemic to the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, C. cookii is known only from a few locations on the island. The type locality given is "West Indies", which was restricted to "St. Vincent" by Henderson (1997).[2]

Habitat

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The preferred natural habitat of C. cooki is forest, but it is also abundant in urban areas. It is found from sea level to an altitude of 500 m (1,600 ft).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Henderson RW, Powell R (2021). "Corallus cookii ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: https://dx.doi.org?10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T203209A2762187.en. Accessed on 05 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  3. ^ a b "Corallus cookii ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  4. ^ a b Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Corallus cookii, p. 58).
  5. ^ a b Stafford PJ, Henderson RW (1996). Kaleidoscopic Tree Boas: The Genus Corallus of Tropical America. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 120 pp. ISBN 0-89464-975-2.
  6. ^ "Corallus cookii". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  7. ^ Species Corallus cookii at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading

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  • Gray JE (1842). "Synopsis of the species of prehensile-tailed Snakes, or family Boidæ". Zoological Miscellany, London 2: 41–46. (Corallus cookii, new species, p. 42).
  • Henderson RW (1997). "A Taxonomic Review of the Corallus hortulanus Complex of Neotropical Tree Boas". Caribbean Journal of Science 33 (3-4): 198–221.
  • 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. (Corallus enydris cooki, p. 181).