Underwood's mussurana or Saint Lucia cribo (Clelia errabunda) is an extinct species of snake in the family Dipsadidae. The species was formerly endemic to the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. It was originally thought to belong to the species Clelia clelia. Like other species of mussurana, it is known to have fed on other snakes; one museum specimen is preserved in the act of swallowing a Bothrops species. Its extinction is believed to have been caused by human activity.

Underwood's mussurana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Genus: Clelia
Species:
C. errabunda
Binomial name
Clelia errabunda
Underwood, 1993

It was mistakenly recorded as present on Dominica due to a cataloging error.

Sources

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  • Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999). Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean. London: Macmillan Education Ltd. 144 pp. ISBN 0-333-69141-5. (Clelia errabunda, pp. 50, 96).
  • Powell, Robert; Henderson, Robert W. (2005). "Conservation Status of Lesser Antillean Reptiles". Iguana 12 (2): 63–77.

Further reading

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  • Underwood G (1993). "A new snake from St. Lucia, West Indies". Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. (Zool.) 59 (1): 1–9. (Clelia errabunda, new species).
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