Meeting Abstract

P2.98  Monday, Jan. 5  A Comparison of Body Size and Condition of Boa constrictor imperator on the Cayos Cochinos Archipelago HAUGHEY, Michael/D*; GREEN, Steven; LOGAN, Michael; BOBACK, Scott; MONTGOMERY, Chad; Salem State College; University of Kent, Canterbury; Univ. of Texas, Arlington; Dickinson College; Truman State University mhaughey86@gmail.com

The islands of Cayo Pequeno and Cayo Grande within the Cayos Cochinos archipelago of Honduras each support dwarfed populations of Boa constrictor. Despite their close proximity (< 1 km), these islands differ in habitat structure, potential prey species, and prey availability. For instance, populations of Agouti paca, Dasypus novemcinctus, Dasyprocta punctata, and Rattus rattus occur solely on Cayo Grande. On Cayo Pequeno, B. constrictor are known to prey (almost exclusively) upon lizards and migratory birds, prey that are generally much smaller than the mammals found on Cayo Grande. We predicted that these differences in prey availability and diversity would result in differences in mean snout-to-vent-length (SVL), mass, and body condition between boa populations. The residuals from a linear regression of LogMass verse LogSVL were used as an index of body condition. Contrary to our hypothesis (for both males and females), SVL (P=0.157), mass (P=0.367) and body condition (Male P=0.068 Female P=0.315) did not differ between Cayo Pequeno and Cayo Grande. This suggests that, despite differences in prey availability and diversity, snakes are maintaining similar body sizes and conditions. Interestingly, despite a lack of difference in overall body size and condition between males and females between islands, B. constrictor on Cayo Grande were found to display a greater degree of sexual size dimorphism than those on Cayo Pequeno (SVL, P=0.034 Mass, P=0.037).