Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

My wife and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in Costa Rica. We did not have much time to "herp" the wilds, and our strictly day-lit searches yielded nothing more exciting than the usual fare of reptiles and amphibians that have more or less adjusted to altered habitat (still exciting for a Chicagoan like me): green iguanas, Ctenosaura, green-eyed tree frogs, two species of poison dart frogs, green and brown basilisks, a caiman and a handful of crocodiles, a slender anole, and countless examples of the ubiquitous house geckos.

For our next trip, I have been promised a few guided night hikes in more remote areas, so I hope to someday see some native serpientes in their natural habitats. We did get to visit a reptile exhibit in Monteverde, where I saw a pair of mussurana and a large adult male black-tailed cribo.

This was the first adult Dry I have seen in person, and I was floored by his presence. He immediately captured my heart and my imagination, validating the countless references any snake keeper will hear about the Drymarchon magnificence. The locals call them the "royal inhabitants of the savannah" for very good reason. This snake was easily 7.5 FT in length.

Impressive, to say the least.

Cheers,

David

Impressive beasts we all agree. Everyone, note the brown tail...Dave, sometimes we have colorful debates on what exactly is a true blacktail, a true unicolor, and what those intermediate phases like yours actually are...separate species or are they all one complex and extreme examples at either end? Keep in mind it was not that long ago that striped Cal kings were thought to be different species than banded (Boyle's), so maybe there will be a revision on this taxa eventually?

Glad you had a fun trip. Vic

Thanks, Vic. Special place, that.

I had noticed the dull brown tail and wondered whether this was a "true" blacktail, and whether unicolors overlap with their range in C.R. Can anyone here answer the question for me?

The biologist who showed us around did not seem very knowledgeable about the taxa (or in general, if I'm being honest), but he had an obvious love for this particular snake, which is something, I suppose. The animal was rescued after an unfortunate run-in with a motorized bike of some kind:

I have a pair of sibling Blacktails, the male is plain tan with a darker but not jet black tail, however his sister is almost unicolored with very little definition between body & tail color. She also has speckled body markings & looks very muck like the mottled Unicolors we see online.

Perhaps they are the same species with extreme color variation over a wide geographic range or could they be intergrades of two closely related species. Hopefully we will find out some day.

They are very impressive animals, Dry`s are my favorite snakes.

Nice pics.
Andy.

Hmmm,

Is this considered a mottled???

Alan B

Or this one?

How about this?

So, you see that "look" across different taxa? Interesting. Do you have any thoughts about the mode of inheritance, etc.? Forgive my ignorance; I'm not as well versed in the goings on within this subset of the hobby as I hope to be in the future.

Thanks,

David

dave, to answer your question, i understand that mountains separate unicolor populations from the blacktails. unicolors have smokey colored tails at birth but by adulthood, they have earned their name. blacktails usually have jet black tails at birth. i don't know what that is in your pic but apparently there is alot of gray area w/ this taxa. below are pics of new born unicolors & what they look like about 5 years down the road. & also an adult blacktail....

What is this one a Mottled Uni or Mottled Black Tail or a Mottled red tail ?

Thanks for the information, Dan. I wish I had asked the folks at the exhibit where they had collected that animal.

This picture represent the closest I could get to a full body shot (the snake was very actively cruising his enclosure, and my camera skills are subpar, obviously):

Alan, I would have guessed unicolor, but I take your point to be that the phenotypic indeterminacy casts doubt on the current taxonomic classifications. Or am I off base here?

Thanks for the discussion, guys.

- David

Hi Alan, i would say that is a Unicolor, you have some gorgeous snakes.

Andy.

holy smoke. that's a gorgeous rare animal! it's clearly a mottled brown tail. found in the very small locality of fairlawn.

Yes Tom you are correct Brown tailed BT

Bergen county !!!!

Alan B

YO.......I ain't up on those Central American politics.......BUT neither fair lawn or Bergen county are in coster rica.......sounds like NORF JOISEY