• Genre: Rock
• Active: 2000s
• Representative Album: "Mansion"

Biography

In addition to solid musicianship, the Boas are blessed with the sort of creation story that makes even the most hardened music hacks feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside. The gist of the tale is that Chicagoans (transplants, really) Graeme Gibson, Jonathan Van Herik, and Gabe McDonough had been trying to form a band together, but thought that what they really needed was a frontman with a back catalog for them to draw from and a keyboard player to fill out the sound. Gibson and McDonough attended a Califone gig and spotted a guy in the audience who looked like he'd be a good addition to their band. A few choice beverages later, Gibson persuaded McDonough to approach the stranger and, sure enough, he (Jonathan Klos) was an able frontman with a back catalog who just happened to know a keyboard player who was about to move to town. The rest, as they say, is history. Or at least it will be once the unsuspecting ears of the rock & roll community are privy to the Boas' grand racket. Signed to Overcoat Records almost as soon as they formed, they released an EP under the name Mansion. Their 2002 debut LP found the boys changing their name to the Boas and naming the album Mansion. ~ Karen E. Graves, All Music Guide

Similar Artists:

The Race, Califone, Moviola, Red Red Meat, Wilco, Royal Trux, Neil Young, Syd Barrett

Influences:

Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones

Mansion Buy this CD

(Boidae)

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Serpentes

Family: Boidae

Thumbnail description
Small to giant constricting snakes possessing paired lungs, cloacal spurs, and toothless premaxilla; most species are viviparous

Size
1.2–25 ft (0.37–7.7 m); 0.2–320+ lb (0.1–145+ kg)

Number of genera, species
7 genera; 41 species

Habitat
Loose sand, burrows, grasslands, savanna, forest, various freshwater habitats

Conservation status
Endangered: 1 species; Vulnerable: 4 species; Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 2 species

Distribution
South America, Central America, Mexico, southwestern Canada, western United States, and West Indies; southeastern Europe and Asia Minor; sub-Saharan western Africa east to Tanzania, north through Egypt, and Mediterranean coast from Egypt to eastern Morocco; Madagascar and Reunion Island; Arabian Peninsula; southwestern and central Asia; Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka; Sulawesi, Moluccan Islands; New Guinea; Bismarck Archipelago; and Melanesia east to American Samoa

Evolution and systematics

Fossil snake skulls are rarely recovered because the bones of the skull are small and loosely connected and typically become separated soon after death. Vertebrae are the most common snake fossil. In general, few snake families can be identified incontrovertibly by vertebrae and ribs. Living erycine snakes, however, have several unique vertebral characters, and on this basis numerous fossil vertebrae have been identified as erycine (in the subfamily Erycinae).

The modern Boidae is believed to have descended from basal macrostomatans; it is one of several snake lineages that diverged from the primitive alethinophidians (true snakes) near the end of the Cretaceous. Macrostomatan snakes are distinguished by characters of the skull and musculature that allow them increased jaw flexibility, a greater gape, and the ability to consume larger prey.

Boid snakes share many characters with other basal macrostomatan snakes, including fully functional paired lungs, smooth scales (with some exceptions) vestiges of a pelvic girdle, and cloacal spurs. The cloacal spurs of boas are two claw-like structures that are located one on each side of the anal scale. They are usually larger in male boas than in females; the females of some species may not have apparent cloacal spurs. Characters shared with the Pythonidae, the sister taxon of the Boidae, include elliptical pupils and pitted lip scales. The pits in the lips are associated with thermoreception, the ability to detect differences in temperature.

Boas differ from pythons in numerous characters, including: Boid snakes do not have a supraorbital bone (with one exception) while all pythons have a supraorbital bone. Not all boas have labial pits; when present, the labial pits are located between the labial scales while the labial pits of pythons are centered in the labial scales. Two premaxilla are fused together to form a small bone across the front of the upper jaw; the premaxilla of boid snakes is without teeth while the premaxilla of most pythons is toothed. Most boas are viviparous, meaning they bear live young; all pythons lay eggs. Three taxa of boid snakes, Charina reinhardtii, Eryx muelleri, and Eryx jayakari, are oviparous and lay eggs.

Undoubtedly, the Boidae is more speciose than is recognized. An analysis of the geographic variation and systematic relationships of populations of Boa constrictor, the most widely distributed boid species, has yet to be accomplished. Likewise, the systematic relationships of the insular populations of all three species of Candoia remain to be investigated fully. There is little doubt that there will be further taxonomic changes within the Boidae.

As of 2002, science recognizes 41 species in seven genera and two subfamilies in the Boidae. The Boinae, the larger subfamily, includes the boas and anacondas, 27 species in five genera. The Erycinae includes the sandboa, rubber boa, rosy boa, and Calabar boa, 14 species in two genera. The division of the Boidae into these two subfamilies is based primarily on osteological characters.

Physical characteristics

The Boidae is distributed widely on five continents and countless islands and occurs in many different habitats.

Among the species, great variation in size, scalation, diet, habitat, and many other characters can be seen. There are several species of erycine snakes that are not known to exceed 3 ft (1 m) in length. The Haitian vine boa, Epicrates gracilis, is one of the most elongate and slender of all snakes. The boa constrictor is a large species, approaching 15 ft (4.6 m) in maximum length.

The green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, is the largest boid snake. Its maximum size is a topic of controversy. There are stories and reports in the literature of anacondas measuring 33–45 ft (10–14 m). Murphy and Henderson list 25 ft (7.7 m) as the longest specimen whose length actually was measured, not just estimated. This anaconda is probably the heaviest snake species in the world. While all of the giant snake species attain great weight in captivity, there are numerous records of wild specimens of green anacondas exceeding 300 lb (136 kg).

With the exception of the rosy boa, Charina trivirgata, the bodies of erycine snakes are modified for burrowing. The eyes are small and often set high on the sides of their heads, the rostrals (scales on the end of the snout) are strong and broad, and the lower jaws are underslung and close tightly. The heads are narrow and the necks thick, the bodies are round and usually smooth scaled, and the tails are short with thickened skin on the upper surfaces. Several species have blunt tails. No erycine snakes have labial pits or have been shown to have well-developed temperature-sensing abilities. The largest erycine snake is the brown sandboa, Eryx johnii; this species reaches a maximum length slightly exceeding 4 ft (1.3 m). There are several small species—the smallest is probably the Arabian sandboa, E. jayakari, with an average adult size of 0.9 ft (28 cm).

The boine snakes are mostly medium sized, athletic, terrestrial, and arboreal. The smallest species is the Abaco boa, Epicrates exsul, with a maximum length of 31.5 in (810 mm). The best-known arboreal species is the emerald tree boa, Corallus caninus. The anacondas are the largest and most aquatic of the boas; they have soft, loose skin that can withstand long periods of immersion, and their eyes and nostrils are directed upward, so that they can see and breathe with most of the head submerged. Most boine snakes have large heads that are distinctly wider than their necks, large eyes, laterally compressed bodies (to varying degrees), and long tails. Most have temperature-sensing labial pits, and several species in the genera Boa and Eunectes have temperature-sensing abilities even without labial pits.

The boas include many beautiful species. Several species have a polymorphic appearance; one such species is the Amazon tree boa, Corallus hortulanus, with patterned and unpatterned appearances that vary in color from gray to brown to yellow to orange to red. The skin of many species exhibits a beautiful iridescence. Some populations of the boa constrictor, B. constrictor, and the rainbow boa, Epicrates cenchria, have a remarkable ability to change the color of their skin; they typically appear darkest during the day and much paler at night. The Fiji Island boa, Candoia bibroni, has been seen to change from black to pale pink in a period of six hours.

Distribution

The Boidae has one of the most extensive distributions of a snake family. Several genera have disjunct distributions. In the Boinae, Boa occurs in northwestern and northeastern Mexico south through Central and South America, the Lesser Antilles, Madagascar, and Reunion. Eunectes is found in tropical South America from Colombia to Argentina. Corallus occurs in Central America from Honduras south to the Amazon drainage in eastern Bolivia and Brazil; it is found on numerous islands in the West Indies. One species of Epicrates is widespread from southern Central America and South America to Argentina; the other species are distributed throughout the West Indies. Candoia is distributed in the Indo-Pacific region from Sulawesi and the Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia, and Polynesia east to American Samoa.

Of the Erycinae, Charina is found in western North America, including southwestern Canada, western United States, and northwestern Mexico. Charina also occurs in tropical central Africa, from Liberia east to Cameroon, Gabon, and Congo and into Zaire. In Africa, Eryx occurs in the Sahel region from Mauritania and Senegal to Kenya and Tanzania, northeastern Africa, coastal northern Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula; it also occurs in southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Minor to central Asia, India, and Sri Lanka.

Habitat

Boas can be found in nearly every habitat known to host snakes of any sort, except marine habitats. Many of the sand-boas, such as the Arabian sandboa, are well adapted to live in extremely hot and dry habitats; in contrast, Eryx tataricus is found in a very cold climate in southern Mongolia. The range of the viper boa, Candoia aspera, includes New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago, one of the rainiest locales on Earth. The wide-ranging boa constrictor can be found in the Sonoran Desert in northwestern Mexico, the rainforest in Brazil, and the temperate grasslands of northern Argentina.

Behavior

Boid snakes tend to be nocturnal, but they are often encountered moving or basking during the day. Faced with a perceived threat, the larger boid snakes typically defend themselves with cloacal discharge, hissing, striking, and biting. When threatened, many sandboas are reluctant to bite and instead roll into a tight ball with their heads in the center; several of the blunt-tailed species then will use their tails to mimic their heads. C. bibroni has been seen to flatten the head and the anterior half of the body, much in the manner of a cobra.

Feeding ecology and diet

Boid snakes are primarily ambush hunters that consume vertebrate prey. Ambush techniques range from that of sand-boas, which lie buried in wait for lizards or small mammals, to that of Amazon tree boas perching in trees over watercourses waiting for birds to fly by; to that of Puerto Rican boas, Epicrates inornatus, which sit high in cave entrances to intercept bats. Boid snakes can and do incorporate active foraging behavior as well.

Many small boid snakes consume lizards, both small taxa and the young of larger taxa. Anoline lizards are the favored food of many of the West Indian Epicrates. Mammals become an increasingly significant percentage of the diet as boas grow in size. Most species will consume birds whenever the opportunity presents itself. Snakes are included in the diet of anacondas, but in general snake-eating appears to be rare in the Boidae. Boas in the genera Boa and Corallus are known to caudal lure by wriggling the distal portion of their tails to attract prey. Although it does not appear to be well documented, there are a sufficient number of published reports that green anacondas kill and occasionally consume humans to assume that it does happen. It is not a common occurrence.

Reproductive biology

In most species the female is the larger sex. In some boid species, males will fight when competing to breed with a female, often incorporating wrestling and biting to achieve dominance. Male anacondas apparently do not engage in combat; groups of males are sometimes observed simultaneously courting one female.

All boine snakes and most erycine snakes are live-bearers. Litters of well-formed live young are born, typically all delivered within a short time. There is one record of a green anaconda delivering 82 young in one litter. A captive East African sandboa, Eryx colubrinus, produced more than 250 young, breeding 14 times in a 16-year period. The Arabian sandboa (E. jayakari), Sahara sandboa (E. muelleri), and the Calabar boa (C. reinhardtii) are oviparous and reproduce by laying eggs.

Conservation status

The rarest boa in the world is Corallus cropanii, known only from its type locality in southeastern Brazil. It receives no formal protection. More than 40 years have passed since the last specimen was collected, and though it has not been formally declared extinct, many authorities believe this is the case.

The Mona boa, Epicrates monensis, including both subspecies, E. m. granti and E. m. monensis, is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, owing to the fragmentation of habitat and populations, a low number of adults that is declining, habitat degradation, and introduced predators. A captive-breeding program for the species was begun in 1985, and there is now a self-sustaining captive population of several hundred individuals maintained in zoos. Reintroduction to former habitats was started in 1993, after rats and cats were eliminated from those areas. The reintroduced populations appear to be breeding.

The four species listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN are the Jamaican boa, Epicrates subflavus; Dumeril's boa, Boa dumerili; the Madagascar boa, Boa madagascariensis; and the Madagascar tree boa, Boa mandrita. At the time of this writing, all are believed to be stable.

Significance to humans

In general, few species in the Boidae are persecuted actively by humans. Most are too small to be of value in the skin trade. In the recent past, many boa species certainly were considered an important natural resource by indigenous peoples, but today it seems that most boas escape much human attention. Some of the larger boas still may be hunted for meat in remote areas, and body parts are used in folk medicine in some areas. There is commerce in the skins of anacondas and boa constrictors, but it does not approach the magnitude of the trade in python skins. With the exception of C. cropanii and Eryx somalicus, all of the boid species are kept in captivity. Boa constrictors, rosy boas, and East African sandboas are among the most commonly kept snake species; thousands are bred and born in captivity every year. As of 2002 all but three or four boid species have been reproduced in captivity.

Species accounts

Boa constrictor
Viper boa
Emerald tree boa
Cuban boa
Green anaconda
Calabar boa
Rosy boa
East African sandboa

Resources

Books:

de Vosjoli, Philippe, Roger Klingenberg, and Jeff Ronne. The Boa Constrictor Manual. Santee, CA: Advanced Vivarium Systems, 1998.

Greene, Harry W. Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Minton, Sherman A., and Madge Rutherford Minton. Giant Reptiles. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.

Murphy, John C., and Robert W. Henderson. Tales of Giant Snakes: A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons. Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1997.

O'Shea, Mark. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Independent Publishing, 1996.

Pope, Clifford Millhouse. The Giant Snakes: The Natural History of the Boa Constrictor, the Anaconda, and the Largest Pythons, Including Comparative Facts About Other Snakes and Basic Information on Reptiles in General. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961.

Stafford, Peter J., and Robert W. Henderson. Kaleidoscopic Tree Boas: The Genus Corallus of Tropical America. Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1996.

Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to the Western Reptiles and Amphibians: Field Marks of All Species in Western North America, Including Baja California. 2nd edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

Tolson, P. J., and R. W. Henderson. The Natural History of West Indian Boas. Taunton, England: R & A Publishing Limited, 1993.

Periodicals:

Kluge, Arnold G. "Boine Snake Phylogeny and Research Cycles." Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, no. 178 (1991): 1–58. ——. "Calabaria and the Phylogeny of Erycine Snakes." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 107 (1993): 293–351.

McDowell, S. B. "A Catalogue of the Snakes of New Guinea and the Solomons, with Special Reference to Those in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Part III. Boinae and Acrochordoidea (Reptilia, Serpentes)." Journal of Herpetology 13, no. 1 (1979): 1–92.

[Article by: David G. Barker, MS; Tracy M. Barker, MS]

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