Clelia errabunda (Underwood's Mussurana)

[surroundx]

Not seen since the 1800's (Daltry, 2009:96), and considered extinct by (Underwood, 1993) who described the species. Daltry (2009) considers the species as deserving to be evaluated as Extinct under IUCN criteria (this is not the same thing as globally extinct), but mentions that there are occasional reports of big black snakes in the forest which might possibly refer to C. errabunda (p. 96).

Photographs of two preserved specimens can be seen in (Daltry, 2009:95).

References:

Underwood, Garth. (1993). A new snake from St Lucia, West Indies. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (Zool.) 59(1): 1-9.

Daltry, Jennifer C. (2009). The Status and Management of Saint Lucia’s Forest Reptiles and Amphibians. Technical Report No. 2 to the National Forest Demarcation and Bio-Physical Resource Inventory Project, FCG International Ltd,
Helsinki, Finland. 129 pp.

[surroundx]

Original description is available online:

Underwood, Garth. (1993). A new snake from St Lucia, West Indies. Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (Zool.) 59(1): 1-9.

[Sebbe]

Listed as Extinct on the basis that no records of this large, conspicuous snake have been taken since the 19th Century (when it was familiar to general naturalists), despite extensive survey work on Saint Lucia and the presence of a large human population. While recent literature conservatively suggests that the species is "very probably" extinct, there appears to be no reasonable doubt that this species has indeed been lost from Saint Lucia.

This species is known only from Saint Lucia (Henderson and Powell 2009).

Literature from the mid-1800s reveals that the species was familiar to naturalists as late as this period (Breen 1844). It has never since been rediscovered, despite being a conspicuous, large black snake. Extensive searches have been conducted on Saint Lucia without recording it, and the species is very probably extinct (Powell and Henderson 2012).

Changes to the island's ecology were so varied, and documentation so poor, in the 19th Century that it will probably never be known why this species was lost. It is hypothesized that a bounty system established to encourage killings of vipers may have resulted in the loss of this snake (Underwood 1993), however the loss of a Clelia species from Grenada in the 1960s - where no such bounty was set - calls this into question as a primary cause of extinction. Mongoose were introduced to Saint Lucia in the 19th Century, however adult mussuranas are sufficiently large that mongoose would not threaten them. The precise timing of this species' extinction is unclear, and the species might have vanished or been in decline before mongoose arrived. Habitat clearance for banana plantations was widespread in this period, and may have impacted this species if it relied on moist forest (J. Daltry pers. comm. 2015).

www.iucnredlist.org/details/203441/0

[Peter]

St. Lucia is infested by countless reptiles and insects. Of the former the most dangerous is the yellow serpent — a genus peculiar to this island and Martinique. It measures between six and eight feet in length, and its bite is generally fatal. There are numerous other serpents of a smaller species and much less noxious. They all multiply amazingly — the female bringing forth from thirty to forty young ones at a birth — and every part of the island is more or less exposed to their fearful influence. In most cases, however, the bite, if immediately attended to, maybe effectually cured: the planters and many of the Negroes are very skilful in the application of various specifics. The serpent subsists on birds, insects, and poultry. Its greatest enemy is the cribo, or black snake, an animal having the shape and appearance of the serpent, but without its noxious power. A careless observer would be liable to mistake the one for the other. In every encounter the Cribo is the aggressor and generally comes off victorious. It counteracts the mischievous effect of the bite of the serpent by rolling itself on the leaves of a plant, called Pied-poule (to be found in every part of the island) and returns to the attack with renovated strength. In this way the serpent is ultimately overpowered, and then the Cribo gorges the carcase, commencing with the head. When (as is frequently the case) the body of the serpent is longer and larger than that of the snake, the latter retaining possession of its prey, feeds upon it for several days, gradually sucking in such portions of the carcase as may be sufficient to satisfy the wants of the moment. The Cribo is sometimes found with the lower part of the serpent protruding between its jaws, in this digusting position.*

* The Cribo possesses some of the characteristics of the Boa-Constrictor, of which there is a remarkable species in St. Lucia called the "Têtechien."

Breen, H.H. (1844) St. Lucia: Historical, Statistical and Descriptive. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London.
archive.org/details/stluciahistoric00breegoog