Genetic diversity in the US ex situ populations of the endangered Puerto Rican Boa, Chilabothrus inornatus.

Abstract

The Puerto Rican Boa (Chilabothrus inornatus) was placed on the US Endangered Species List in 1970. Progress has been made since to clarify the recovery status of this species, though the design of a new recovery plan must include information regarding genetic variation within and among populations of this species. While measures of genetic diversity in wild populations of this species are finally becoming available, relative genetic diversity represented in ex situ populations is unknown, which hampers efforts to develop an ex situ species management plan. Here, we provide an analysis of genetic diversity in US public and private collections (zoos and breeders) using mitochondrial sequence data and five highly polymorphic nuclear microsatellite loci. We analyzed 50 boas from the US ex situ population and determined overall genetic diversity and relatedness among these individuals. We then compared these data to mitochondrial and microsatellite data obtained from 176 individuals from wild populations across the native range of the species. We found little inbreeding and a large amount of retained genetic diversity in the US ex situ population of C. inornatus relative to wild populations. Genetic diversity in the ex situ population is similar to that found in wild populations. Ours is only the second explicit attempt to characterize genetic diversity at the molecular level in ex situ populations of boid snakes. We anticipate that these results will inform current breeding strategies as well as offer additional information that will facilitate the continuation of ex situ conservation breeding or management in boas.