Boa c. amarali
Boa c. Amarali
– The US – error of judgement
This
detailled report is an abstract from our upcoming book
"Reinrassige Boa constrictor",
that will come out in fall 2006 (only in German language).
The Brazilian Short Tail Boas occur in the savannahs of the state Sao Paolo and in the Pantanal, which is situated south of the Serra dos Parecis.
This central highland represents the southern perimeter of the Brazilian Amazon basin, the distribution area of Boa c. constrictor.
The Serra dos Parecis is a natural distribution barrier that can not be overcome by boas. It is due to this barrier that there are no intergrades of the two subspecies found in Brazil.
Because Sao Paolo is surrounded by a mountainous region towards the interior of the state, the distribution area of the Brazilian Short Tail Boas is divided. This is a natural barrier to the Pantanal. Thus the Boa c. amarali from the savannahs of the countryside of Sao Paolo are largely isolated from their relatives in the Pantanal.
The Brazilian Amaralis belong to the less colourful representatives of the Boa constrictors. In contrast to the Bolivian Short Tail Boas, they are quite different from Boa c. constrictor.
In fact, the Brazilian Amaral’s Boas from the Sao Paolo region are referred to as “silverbacks” in the European boa breeders and keepers community. This term was initially created in the U.S. and was at first used only to describe light grey (silver grey) specimens. In Europe, this term has been gradually applied to all Short Tail Boas from the Sao Paolo region, although most of these animals are either of a dark-grey or brownish colour, rather than silver-grey.
By the way, a light spot is frequently found under the chin of Short Tail Boas from Sao Paolo, which is a pigmentation issue, not the sign of a disease.
To the best of our knowledge, only the Sao Paolo form of the Brazilian Boa c. amarali is kept in captivity in Europe. For a long time the only European source for these animals had been in Denmark, creating the term “Danish bloodline“.
Brazilian Short Tail Boas from the state of Sao Paolo belong to the few forms of Boa constrictor that can actually be identified as representatives from a certain region just by their appearance.
In view of this fact it is somewhat surprising that some US - Boa constrictor websites label specimens of Brazilian Short Tail Boas, whose appearance leaves no doubt that their original parent specimens were from the Sao Paolo region, as “Bolivian Amaralis”.
Even the light spot under the chin that is typical for the Sao Paolo Amaralis is visible in some of the photos.
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The Boa c. amarali in the photo is from a breeding farm in the state of Sao Paolo/Brazil. The light spot under the chin is typical for the Short Tail Boas from this region. |
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This Boa c. amarali was captive born in the US and was advertised on the market as a "Bolivian Amarali" photo: Adam Botond |
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Not only does
the appearance of this specimen correspond with
that of the Sao Paolo
Short
A telling illustration of the US - misjudgement! photo: Adam Botond
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Back in 1999, we were already in doubt that the classification of some (American) Boa constrictor keepers is correct. We therefore contacted Bolivian Herpetologist Francis C. Vasquez in order to learn the truth.
Vasquez and his colleagues were collecting about 600 Boa c. amarali in four different localities in Bolivia for a Nature Conservancy project. In our opinion, this makes him a more competent contact than any (American) Boa constrictor keeper and breeder.
In 1999 we sent him photos of "silverbacks" from the Danish bloodline and requested his opinion on the specimens.
He replied that none of the Bolivian Amarals Boas that he had
collected looked like the specimens in the photos we sent him.
This information was hardly surprising, since the distance between Sao Paolo and
the distribution area of Boa c. amarali in Bolivia accounts for more than
600 miles. Due to the enormous distance, an identical appearance is nearly
impossible. Furthermore, the Sao Paolo region is surrounded by a mountain chain
towards the interior of the state, as we mentioned earlier. This presents a
natural barrier to the western distribution area.
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This topographic map clearly shows that the Sao Paolo variant of Boa c. amarali is isolated by a mountainous region from both the Pantanal variant of the short tail boas and Boa c. constrictor. The Pantanal variant is also isolated from Boa c. constrictor by a mountainous region. Just on that score
it is highly unlikely that short tail boas with the appearance of Sao Paolo
Amaralis occur in Bolivia, especially since the entire distribution area of the
Pantanal lies in between the two. This is only the case in Bolivian Boa c. amarali (you will find a photo at the end of this page), because in Bolivia there is no natural barrier between the distribution areas of Boa c. constrictor and Boa c. amarali. |
***Translation of the text on the map: Verbreitungsgebiet = distribution area; Brasilien = Brazil***
This begs the question of why the Brazilian Short Tail Boas from the Sao Paolo region are commonly referred to as Bolivian Amaralis in the U.S.
One possibility is that these animals were mislabelled when they were initially put on the market, which has subsequently been falsely adopted.
It is also possible that the Brazilian Short Tail Boas have been exported via Bolivia, since Brazil did not permit the export of endangered species until just a few years ago.
Now the question arises what kind of boa is commonly mislabelled as Brazilian Boa c. amarali in the U.S. when the “correct“ one is wrongly assigned to the neighbouring country of Bolivia.
If one clicks on a corresponding photo on a U.S. boa website, usually a light-coloured boa with a red tail appears. They are referred to as “South Brazilian Amarali“. Judging by their appearance, they are not different from Boa c. constrictor. That’s not surprising because they are in fact Boa c. constrictor or Boa c. constrictor X Boa c. amarali crosses.
In most of the cases it is easily discernable on the too long tails that these boas are not Amaralis.
The bloodline of the late US – breeder Lloyd Lemke is especially popular. His animals have become well-known in the U.S. as Brazilian Short Tail Boas.
Unfortunately there is a flaw in this matter: Scale counts performed by the American Boa constrictor specialists Dennis Sargent und Jim Pomaville showed that these animals are in fact Boa c. constrictor.
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Boa c. constrictor
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Not a big surprise. Such light, red-tailed “Boa c. constrictor – like“ looking animals in the middle of the distribution area of the “silverbacks“ would be about as logical as the existence of red-haired white people in a native village in the Congo.
We have also learned from several reliable sources in the U.S. that many breeders there have crossed “South Brazilian Amaralis“ (in fact Boa c. constrictor) with true Amaralis.
This likely happened partly due to misjudgement, but possibly also to give the Brazilian Short Tail Boas who are lacking a blaze of colour a bit of a “face lift“. Thus it was that many Boa c. constrictor X Boa c. amarali crossbreeds are on the U.S. market. We have seen photos of such animals, which show characteristics of both subspecies, especially (as mentioned before) a tail who is too long for a true Boa c. amarali.
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This boa shows the typical
appearence of the kind of
However,
this photo has |
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São Domingos (state
of
Goiás/Brazil)
is situated Thus the animal in the photo is a Boa c. constrictor, not an Amarali. |
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Another
example: |
To be fair, we must point out that there are also Boa constrictor keepers and breeders in the U.S. who have been criticizing the incorrect classification for years. These good people are having a hard time because this is not in the best economical interests of some major US – breeders who don’t want their proven marketing strategies affected by this.
We hope that this chapter helps to prevent this misjudgement from gaining a foothold in these parts.
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Boa c. Amarali |
