Northern Annulated Tree Boa
Corallus
annulatus
Cope 1876
Annulated tree boas are very mysterious snakes. Despite their presence in both Central and South America
not much is known about their natural history. Annulated tree boas tend to be secretive in nature and rather
than spending time out in the open, they prefer to hide under bark or loose leaf litter. Perhaps this is one of
the reasons their secret lives are still hidden from herpetologists and herpetoculturists. Recent research has
divided the one time single species into two with the results being the more common (Northern) annulated tree
boa Corallus annulatus and the Southern (Ecuadorian) annulated tree boa Corallus blombergi.
Annulated tree boas have the northernmost distribution of all the tree boas and are found as far north as
Guatemala and Honduras. There are several gaps in the distribution between confirmed distributions including
several clusters of individuals present in Colombia. It is because of this clustering of populations that
annulated tree boas were once divided into three subspecies: annulatus found in Central America, blombergi in
Ecuador, and colombianus in Colombia. The Colombian subspecies has now been lumped in with the northern, more
common annulatus.
Another name that commonly appears with the Corallus annulatus is the ringed tree boa. Ringed or spade
patterns are located on either side of the body of annulated tree boas and are usually black or a darker shade
in color.
With more interest in snakes and tree boas, hopefully more can be learned about the natural history and
captive husbandry of annulated tree boas. They are a beautiful species of snake and seem to be unlike the other
Corallus in their habits.
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