Saint Croix racer

The Saint Croix racer (Borikenophis sanctaecrucis)^[2] is a possibly extinct species of snake in the family Colubridae that is endemic to the island of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands.

Saint Croix racer
Conservation status
Critically endangered, possibly extinct  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Borikenophis
Species:	B. sanctaecrucis
Binomial name
Borikenophis sanctaecrucis (Cope, 1862)
Synonyms[2]
Alsophis sancticrucis Cope, 1862 Dromicus sanctæ-crucis Boulenger, 1894 (emendation) Alsophis sanctae-crucis — Grant, 1937 Alsophis sanctaecrucis — Schwartz & Henderson, 1991 Borikenophis sanctaecrucis — Hedges, Couloux & Vidal 2009

Etymology

The specific name, sanctaecrucis, refers to the island of Saint Croix,^[3] on which the holotype was collected.^[2]

Description

B. sanctaecrucis may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 102.5 cm (3.36 ft). It has smooth dorsal scales, which are arranged in 17 rows at midbody.^[4] The holotype has a total length of 50 in (130 cm), which includes a tail 17 in (43 cm) long.^[5] B. sanctaecrucis is oviparous.^[2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of B. sanctaerucis is xeric forest.^[1]

Conservation

B. sanctaecrucis is feared extinct, as it has not been recorded in over 100 years since the holotype was collected. St. Croix is a densely populated island, and the species is a fairly large snake. If it is extinct, the most probable causes were due to predation from introduced mongooses and deforestation of its habitat. However, recent rediscoveries of other Caribbean reptiles^[which?] that were also thought extinct bring hope that a small population (probably less than 50 individuals) of B. sanctaecrucis survives somewhere in St. Croix.