Species of Boa new to the Osa, Philip Davison and Mike Boston; photos: Alex Miranda
On Friday, September the 28th, Sara Sekkenes and Anthony Zenos, guests at Bosque del Cabo, came upon an unusual little snake. They were taking an afternoon walk along one of Bosque del Cabo’s forest trails when a branch fell at their feet. Beside the branch was a small snake – it may or may have descended with the branch. Knowing of our fascination for serpents, they gently nudged it into their water bottle and brought it to us for identification.
What emerged from their water bottle was a juvenile Central American Dwarf Boa, Ungaliophis panamensis. All literature sources available to us refer to this snake as being very rare. What little is known about the habits of U. panamensis, suggests that it may be a nocturnal, canopy dweller, preying on lizards – this might account for its apparent rarity! Hitherto, U. panamensis has only been recorded from the northeast of Costa Rica.
Five species of boa are known to occur in Costa Rica: the boa constrictor (Boa constrictor), the rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria), the common tree boa (Corallus ruschenbergerii) of the southern Pacific region, the annulated tree boa (Corallus annulatus) of the Caribbean lowlands, and the Central American dwarf boa (Ungaliophis panamensis). All but the annulated tree boa are now known to occur on the Osa.