First record of leucism in the polychromatic Amazon tree boa, Corallus hortulana (Serpentes, Boidae) of South America

Abstract

Snakes have a wide variety of color patterns that can be related to specific ecological and physiological functions. However, genetic mutations can lead to the appearance of anomalous color patterns, which can directly interfere with the fitness of individuals. Leucism is a chromatic anomaly characterized by the almost total absence of epidermal and dermal chromatophores that produce the color. Corallus hortulana is an arboreal snake with nocturnal habits, widely distributed throughout South America, with a wide range of color patterns, known as polychromatism. Here we report the first case of leucism in Corallus hortulana and discuss the potential ecological implications of this anomaly in this species.

Filling the gap of phonation in reptiles: First record of oral emission of the worm lizard, Amphisbaena alba

“…If on the one hand, we can not rule out the possibility of the oral emission recorded in A. alba being just an agony sound from an individual that inexplicably died minutes later. On the other hand, considering the emission context (facing a potential predator) and the body posture (wide open mouth), we can also consider that the oral emission of A. alba may be considered a defensive display, resembling the distress call recently described to the snake Dipsas catesbyi (Fernandes et al., 2023).…”

Two records of xanthism in Corallus hortulana (Serpentes: Boidae) in Bolivia with comments on the yellow, patternless morphotype

“…In C. hortulana, the polychromatism has been described and categorized into character states or morphotypes [see Henderson (1997) and Duarte et al (2015) for more details]. Interestingly, there is only one record of an aberrant color pattern (leucism) in C. hortulana, documented from a specimen in French Guiana (Fernandes et al 2022), which does not fit within the designated morphotypes of Henderson (1997) or Duarte et al (2015). To the best of our knowledge, there are no other published reports on chromatic aberrancies in C. hortulana.…”