Range in California: Red
Green: Coastal Rosy Boa
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Adult, Kern County, Courtesy of Robert Hansen
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Adult, Arizona, courtesy Randy Babb |
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Adult, Riverside County, Courtesy of Tim Burkhardt |
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Adult, Inyo County, Courtesy of Tim Burkhardt |
An adult that is an intergrade of L.t. gracia and L. t. roseofusca |
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Habitat, Kern County © Zack Sturbaum |
Habitat of intergrades, Riverside County
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Habitat, Kern County |
Habitat, San Bernardino County |
Habitat, San Bernardino County |
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Description |
| Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults 17 - 44 inches long (43 - 112 cm) but generally under 36 inches. Hatchlings are 10 - 14 inches long. |
| Appearance |
A heavy-bodied snake with smooth shiny scales and a blunt, but tapered tail. The head is only a little wider than the neck. Pupils are vertical.
There are three well-defined dark stripes, tan, brick red, rose, or reddish-brown in color, running lengthwise on the back and sides with a gray, cream, tan, yellowish or whitish ground color inbetween. Flecks of the stripe color are rarely present in the ground color, unlike the Coastal Rosy Boa. Snakes with more contrasting even-edged stripes are associated with drier habitats. The belly is cream to grayish with dark flecks.
Males have small spurs on each side of the vent which are vestigial hind limbs.
Rosy boas of all subspecies have been common pet snakes for many years. Breeders have produced new color morphs and, in order to promote regional variations in appearance, they have also designated sometimes confusing locality-specific names such as Verbenia, Corn Springs, Whitewater, Pioneertown, Long Canyon, Mojave, San Gabriel, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Unicolor, Anza-Borrego, Harquahala, Bagdad, Baja Cape, San Felipe, Catavina, and Bay of LA, among others. |
| Behavior |
Primarily active at dawn, dusk, and at night, rarely in daylight, but may be active in the morning, especially in cool weather. In the hottest and coldest months of the year, remains inactive in burrows or under surface debris. A good climber.
Sometimes rolls the body into a ball and hides the head when alarmed. |
| Diet |
| Eats rodents, small birds, lizards, small snakes, and amphibians. Kills prey by constriction. |
| Reproduction |
| Live-bearing; young are born October - November. |
| Range |
| Occurs in southeastern California, from the Death Valley region south through the Mojave Desert east of the Transverse Ranges, but not to the Nevada border, then east to the Colorado River, and farther into western Arizona. Absent from the Coachella valley area and south in the extreme low desert. Distribution is spotty in the lower desert parts of the range. Snakes in the eastern San Gorgonio pass and Palm Springs area are considered integrades. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits arid scrublands, semi-arid shrublands, rocky deserts, desert oases, canyons, and rocky areas. Appears to be common in riparian areas, but does not require permanent water. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
Rosy boa taxonomy can be confusing. The generic name Lichanura has been challenged, with some taxonomists placing the snake in the genus Charina, along with the Rubber Boas. The three traditional subspecies, gracia, roseofusca, and trivirgata, have also been challenged, with gracia and roseofusca placed into the subspecies myriolepis, and the Arizona populations into arizonense.
Since most Rosy Boas do not have the rosy ventral coloring which gives the snake its name, Robert Stebbins (Stebbins, 2003) has suggested using the common name Three Lined Boa, which was given the snake by the original describer (E. D. Cope, 1861.)
Wood, Fisher and Reeder [Novel patterns of historical isolation, dispersal, and secondary contact across Baja California in the Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (2008) 484–502. December 2007]
found discrepencies between mtDNA and currently recognized subspecies of Lichanura trivirgata leading them to
recognize two evolutionary species - Lichanura orcutti, and Lichanura trivirgata.
L. orcutti occurs north of the US-Mexico border within San Diego County along the coastal Peninsular Ranges, northward into the Mojave Desert and eastward in the Sonoran Desert of California and Arizona north of the Gila River and in the Gila Mountains.
This species consists of L. t. roseofusca (excluding extreme southern San Diego County boas) and L. t. gracia, including the "Arizona Rosy Boa" phase.
L. trivirgata occurs in extreme southern San Diego County within the Tijuana River and Otay watersheds, southward throughout the Baja California peninsula, and northwestern Mexico in the state of Sonora and in isolated mountain ranges south of the Gila River in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal Counties in Arizona.
This species consists of the extreme southern San Diego County Lichanura (including the "Unicolor" boas), the Mid-Baja " L. t. saslowi" boas, and the Mexican Rosy Boa - L. t. trivirgata. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| Listed as a sensitive species by the USFS and the BLM. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Boidae |
Boas and Pythons |
| Genus |
Lichanura |
Rosy Boas |
| Species |
trivirgata |
Rosy Boa |
Subspecies
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gracia |
Desert Rosy Boa |
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Original Description |
Charina trivirgata - Cope, 1861 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 13, p. 304
Charina trivirgata gracia - Klauber, 1931 - Trans. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 6, No. 20, p. 307
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Lichanura - Greek - lichanos - forefinger, and oura tail - possibly refers to the body form or the stumpy tail
trivergata - Latin - tri - three, and virgata - striped - refers to the color pattern
gracia - honors Klauber, Grace Gould
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Charina trivirgata gracia - Desert Rosy Boa
Three Lined Boa
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
L. t. roseofusca - Coastal Rosy Boa
C. bottae - Northern Rubber Boa
C. umbratica - Southern Rubber Boa
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This snakes is listed as Charina trivirgata and is not listed separatedly by subspecies.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
None |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
None |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
None |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
BLM:S |
Sensitive |
| USDA Forest Service |
USFS:S |
Sensitive |
| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
G4 |
Apparently Secure |
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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None |
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