Common names: Calabar ground boa, burrowing boa, Calabar boa, more.

Charina reinhardtii is a nonvenomous erycine

Erycinae

The Erycinae are part of a family of non-venomous snakes called boas found in Europe, Asia Minor, Africa, Arabia, central and southwestern Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and western North America. Three genera comprising 15 species are currently recognized....

 boa species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 endemic to west and central Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. The specific name or epithet

Epithet

An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...

, reinhardtii, is dedicated to Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 herpetologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt

Johannes Theodor Reinhardt

Johannes Theodor Reinhardt was a Danish zoologist and herpetologist. He was the son of Johannes Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt....

 (1816–1882).

Taxonomy

This snake was long regarded as a member of the family Pythonidae; a fact still reflected in many of its common names. Moved to Charina

Charina

Charina is a genus of nonvenomous boas found in North America and Africa. Four species are currently recognized.-Geographic range:Found in North America from southwestern Canada south through the western United States into northwestern Mexico...

 by Kluge (1993) based on a phylogenetic

Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...

 analysis. No subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 are currently recognized.

Description

Adults grow to no more than 1 m in length. No palatal teeth are present and, unlike other boids, the compact skull includes a prefrontal bone. No thermoreceptive labial pits are present. Adapted to burrowing, the body is cylindrical with a blunt head and equally blunt tail. The head is covered with enlarged shields. The shape of the tail closely resembles that of the head which may be a defensive adaptation, meant to confuse an attacker. The body is muscular and strong. The eyes are relatively small and usually a dark reddish-brown color. The pupil is round.

The color pattern consists of a dark brown or black ground color speckled with red, yellow and/or grayish spots. The tail may be ringed or have a partial ring of bright white scales.

Common names

Calabar ground boa, burrowing boa, Calabar Boa, two-headed boa,, West African burrowing boa, West African ground boa, Calabaria.

Geographic range

Found in West and central Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 from Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

 and Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

 to Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

 (including Bioko Island

Bioko

Bioko is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, specifically Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea with a population of 124,000 and an area of . It is volcanic with its highest peak the Pico Basile at .-Geography:Bioko has a total area of...

), the Central African Republic

Central African Republic

The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...

, Gabon

Gabon

Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...

, the Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...

 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

. In the DRC, it is found almost as far east as Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika...

. According to Stimson (1969), the type locality is "Gold Coast

Gold Coast (region)

The Gold Coast was the region of West Africa which is now the nation of Ghana. Early uses of the term refer literally to the coast and not the interior. It was not until the 19th century that the term came to refer to areas that are far from the coast...

."

Behavior

Fossorial, but unlike its cousins, Eryx

Eryx (genus)

Eryx is a genus of nonvenomous boas found in southeastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and southwestern Asia. Eight species are currently recognized.-Geographic range:...

 and Gongylophis

Gongylophis

Gongylophis is a genus of non-venomous boas found in mostly in Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Currently, 3 species are recognized.-Geographic range:...

, it tunnels in loose rainforest soil and leaf litter instead of sand. When threatened, the tail is used as a decoy, being elevated and set in motion, while the head is pressed to the ground and covered with a section of the body. If this fails, the snake coils itself into tight ball with the head in the center, similar to the royal python, Python regius.

They are very docile snakes, when threatened it has a tendency to coil itself into a tight ball with its head safely tucked in its own coils. Also it may thump its tail against the ground in a defensive posture as well, but will rarely bite in aggression. The tail of Calabaria often has a conspicuous white ring which may attract attention of predators away from the head. When first disturbed, they will often remain very still while slowly moving the tail in an effort to increase the effect of this deception.

Feeding

Preys on small rodents and shrews, often invading their burrows in search of them. It may wait for the adults to leave the nest, after which it will enter and to eat whole litters at a time. Constriction

Constriction

Constriction is a method used by various snake species to kill their prey. Although some species of venomous and mildly-venomous snakes do use constriction to subdue their prey, most snakes which use constriction lack venom. The snake initially strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey...

 is usually employed to kill its prey, but it may also use its body to press the young rodents against the walls of their nest. If there is enough room in a burrow, multiple prey may be constricted at a time.

Reproduction

Oviparous

Oviparity

Oviparous animals are animals that lay eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, reptiles, all birds, the monotremes, and most insects, some molluscs and arachnids....

, with females laying eggs. These are relatively large, weighing as much as 50 g (2 oz) each. Usually, only one or two eggs are laid, rarely three. Nevertheless, they may represent up to half of the female's body weight. The young hatch after six weeks of incubation, and begin to feed two or three days after hatching, usually after they first shed their skin.

Captivity

Seldom seen in captivity, they do well under the right conditions. Requirements include a thick layer of loose organic material for burrowing and a cage temperature of 25-29°C.

This species is occasionally available through the exotic animal trade. Captive reproduction has only been accomplished by a few individual keepers, so most are wild caught. They can be handled easily, readily accept captive bred mice and rats for food, but are shy captives and do best when left alone.

Taxonomy

Although Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history...

 (1848) first assigned this taxon to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Eryx

Eryx (genus)

Eryx is a genus of nonvenomous boas found in southeastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and southwestern Asia. Eight species are currently recognized.-Geographic range:...

, most herpetologists have since regarded it as a python, which is still reflected in many of its common names. Kluge (1993) referred it to Charina (Erycinae

Erycinae

The Erycinae are part of a family of non-venomous snakes called boas found in Europe, Asia Minor, Africa, Arabia, central and southwestern Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and western North America. Three genera comprising 15 species are currently recognized....

) based on a phylogenetic

Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...

 analysis. Charina was used to group together bottae and trivirgata with reinhardtii to emphasize evidence for an historical connection between the New

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 and Old World

Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....

s, as well as for taxonomic efficiency.

External links

• The African Burrowing "Python" (Calabaria reinhardtii) at the Sand Boa Page. Accessed 20 July 2008.