IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):102–105•SEP2015

Range Extension and Geographic Distribution Record for the Burmese Python,

Python bivittatus Kuhl 1820 (Reptilia: Pythonidae) in Northwestern India

Ritesh Joshi1 and Abhishek Singh2

1Conservation&SurveyDivision,MinistryofEnvironment,Forest&ClimateChange,NewDelhi,India(ritesh_joshi2325@yahoo.com)2EndangeredFloraandFaunaonEarthConservationTeam,VasantVihar,Dehradun,Uttarakhand,India(ngoeffect@gmail.com)

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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

F E A T U R E A R T I C L E S

Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190

The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198

R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E S

The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida

.............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

C O N S E R V A T I O N A L E R T

World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225

H U S B A N D R Y

Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226

P R O F I L E

Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234

C O M M E N T A R Y

The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238

B O O K R E V I E W

Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243

CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252

Front Cover. Shannon Plummer.Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos accullabo.

Back Cover. Michael KernTotat et velleseque audant mo

estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus

aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque

moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia-tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as

IRC

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REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSC O N S E R V AT I O N A N D N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y

Copyright©2015.RiteshJoshi.Allrightsreserved.

WWW.IRCF.ORG/REPTILESANDAMPHIBIANSJOURNAL

Snakes in the family Pythonidae include some of theworld’slargestandmostspectacularreptilesthatcomprise

anenormousdiversityofmorphology,behavior,andecology(Reynoldsetal.2014). TheIndianSubcontinentishometothreespeciesofpythons,theIndianPython(Python molu-rusLinnaeus1758),theBurmesePython(P. bivittatus Kuhl 1820),andtheReticulatedPython(Malayopython reticulatus Schneider1801).Untilrecently,theBurmesePythonwasconsideredasubspeciesoftheIndianPython(e.g.,Smith1943;Daniel1983;O’Shea1998;WhitakerandCaptain2004)butthetwotaxanowareconsidereddistinctspecies(Jacobsetal.2009;Reynoldsetal.2014;Barkeretal.2015).TheReticulatedPythonpreviouslywasassignedtothegenus Python but was reassigned to MalayopythonbyAuliyaetal.(2002)andReynoldsetal.(2014). Bhupathy(1995)providedanoverviewofthedistribu-tionofthelattertwospeciesinIndia,whichrevealedthat theBurmesePython,whichisaMalayanfaunalelement,has

awidedistributioninnortheasternIndia.ThatstudyalsorevealedthatthespeciesisdistributedalongtheHimalayanfoothills,which includepartof theRajajiNationalPark(RNP),theterai(abeltofmarshygrasslands,savannas,andforestslocatedsouthoftheouterfoothillsoftheHimalayas,theShivalikHills,anareanorthoftheIndo-GangeticPlainof theGanges, the Brahmaputra, and their tributaries),andthemangrovesoftheeasterncoastatleastasfarastheBhitarkanikaWildlifeSanctuary inIndia(theMahanadi-Brahmani-BaitaraniDelta). The Indian Python is widely distributed in peninsular India from Sind in the northwest to Bengal in the northeast, whereas theBurmesePythonoccurs intheIndo-ChineseSubregion,southernChina,HongKong,andHainan(Smith1943).PreciseinformationonthedistributionoftheBurmesePythoninIndiaisnotavailableexceptfortheIndo-ChineseSubregion(i.e.,partsofnortheasternIndia;Daniel1983;Bhupathy1995).Thesespeciesdiffermorphologicallyinthat

Fig. 1. BurmesePython(Python bivittatus)inarockcreviceintheKharaForestoftheChillaForestRangeoftheRajajiNationalPark.PhotographbyRiteshJoshi.

Fig. 2.BurmesePython(Python bivittatus)intheMitthawaliRiverflowingintheChillaForestofRajajiNationalPark.PhotographbyRiteshJoshi.

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inIndianPythons,thesixthorseventhlabialcontactstheeye,alance-shapedmarkontopoftheheadisindistinctinadults,andthetongueispink;whereasinBurmesePythonsthelabi-alsareseparatedfromtheeyebysuboculars,thelance-shapedmarkontheheadisdistinct,andthetongueisblue-black(Smith1943;Daniel2002;O’Shea1998;Whitaker andCaptain2004;Jacobsetal.2009). InventoriesconductedbytheZoologicalSurveyofIndia(ZSI)during1995and2008inRNPandtheCorbettTigerReserve (CTR) corroborated the presence of the IndianPythonintheseprotectedhabitats(HusainandTilak1995;Bahuguna2008).Subsequently,Bahuguna (2010) statedthattheIndianPythonoccursinRNPandpartsofCTR(Bahuguna2010).AfterthefirstreportofBurmesePythonsinRNPbyBhupathy(1995),WhitakerandCaptain(2004),NawabandSrivastava(2008),Sondhi(2010),andDasetal.(2012)notedtheoccurrenceofthespeciesinthatarea.O’Shea(1998)opinedthattheteraiforestsofthesouthernHimalayasprovideacorridorofsuitablehabitatthatallowsspeciesfromtheIndo-ChineseSubregiontospreadacrossthe north of the Indian Subregion and the tributaries of the GangeticRiverSystembeforebeingchanneledsouthwardintothefloodplainsofUttarPradesh.InBangladesh,east-ernIndia,WestBengal,Orissa,andwestalongthesouth-ern Nepalese border to Uttarakhand, Burmese Pythons are sympatricandinsomeplacessynopticwithIndianPythons(BarkerandBarker2008). Details regarding the distributions of Indian and Burmese Pythonsinthearearemainelusive.Inthisreport,weconfirmtheoccurrenceoftheBurmesePythoninRNPandadjoin-inghabitatstwodecadessincethefirstreportandprovidethefirstauthenticatedrecordofthespeciesintheDistrictofDehradun. RNP and theDehradun ForestDivision

(DFD)arelocatedinnorthwesternIndiaat29°15’–30°31’N,77º52’–78°22’Eand30°2’–31º26’N,77°52’–78°19’E,andfallintheGangeticPlainsBiogeographicZoneandtheUpperGangeticPlainsProvince.ThelargestportionofRNPisinShivalik’sBiogeographicSubdivision,whichconstitutesanimportantrepositoryofreptilianfauna. Distinguishing Indian and Burmese Pythons in the field canbedifficult,sincediagnosticcharacterscannotalwaysbeseenwhenanimalsaremoving,highinatree,orinrefugia.Consequently,we randomly collected photographic evi-dencein2006–2010todocumentthepresenceofbothspe-ciesintheChillaForestoftheRNPandadjoiningprotectedareas.BothspecieswereidentifiedbasedondescriptionsinSmith(1943),Daniel(1983),O’Shea(1998),WhitakerandCaptain(2004),andJacobsetal.(2009).Wealsoconsultedforestofficials,localpeople,andtheGujjarnomadiccommu-nityresidingbothinandoutsidetheparkarea. On31March2007,aBurmesePythonofunknownsexwasrecordedrestinginarockcreviceintheKharaForestof theChilla Forest Range of theRNP (29°53’50.5ʺN,78°16’47.8ʺE;Figs.1–2).On9August2007,anindividualwas observed in the Chilla Forest near the Haridwar-Chilla-RishikeshRoad;thissnakewasrescuedandrelocatedinsidethe forest (29°58’15.6ʺN,78°12’41.8ʺE;Fig.3).Anotherindividual was sighted shortly thereafter near the Haridwar ForestRangeoftheRNP(29°56’23ʺN,78°7’23ʺE;Fig.4).Three additional observations of Burmese Pythons were madeintheDFD.On15September2010,anindividualBurmese Python was observed near the Canal Road along theRispnaRivernearJakhan(30°21’57.7ʺN,78°04’38.7ʺE).Subsequently,on14October2011and8November2011,adults were observed in the Timli Forest Range of the Kalsi ForestDivision (30°20’–30°25’N,77°40’–77°45’E;Figs.5–6)andintheLacchiwalaForestRange(30°15’19.1ʺN,78°01’55.8ʺE;Fig.7).Mostsightingsoccurredduringthesummermonsoonseasonnearnaturalwatersources,ingrass-lands,andintheripariancorridorsoftheGanges. Both the available literature and our field observations indicatethatbothIndianandBurmesePythonsoccurinparts

IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):102–105•SEP2015JOSHI1ANDSINGH

Fig. 3. ThelargestBurmesePython(Python bivittatus;~3.5m)recordedfrom theChillaForestofRajajiNationalPark.PhotographbyRajuPushola.

Fig. 4. ABurmesePython(Python bivittatus)neartheHaridwarForestRangeofRajajiNationalPark.PhotographbySwarupPuri/SunilPal.

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oftheupperGangeticPlains.ObservationsalsorevealthatvariousprotectedareasintheupperGangeticPlainsProvinceprovidesuitablehabitat forpythons inthetropicalmoistdeciduousforestofnorthwesternIndia,withtheGangesandtheextensivenetworkofseasonalriverscontributingtothesurvivalanddispersalofbothspecies.Frequentsightingsofpythonsalsosuggestthatpythonpopulationsareincreasingintheregion.

Conservation ConcernsInthemonsoonseason,pythons,especiallyjuveniles,wereencounteredfrequentlyoutsideprotectedareasandinandaroundthehumansettlements.Weattributethismainlytothe movement of individuals along the flooding tributar-iesoftheGanges.Rescuingsnakesfrompublicareasandreleasingthemintoforestedareaisacommonoccurrence.Unfortunately,human-pythonencountersalsocanleadtotheunnaturaldeathsofpythons.Wenotedduringfieldsurveysthatmanylocalpeopleareunawarethatpythonsarenotven-omous,whichalsoleadstothenon-participationofthelocalcommunityinconservationinitiatives. The genus PythonislistedinScheduleIoftheIndianWildlife(Protection)Actof1972(Anonymous2003).TheBurmesePythoniscategorizedasVulnerableintheIUCNRedListofThreatenedSpecies(Stuartetal.2012),buttheIndianPythonhasnotbeenassessed.Incontrast,bothspeciesareconsideredasLowerRisk-NearThreatenedintheconser-vationassessmentofthereptilianfaunaofIndia(Molurand

Walker1998).IncreasingdevelopmentandanthropogenicactivitiesacrosstheripariancorridorsoftheGanges,shrink-ageofnaturalwatersourcesinsideprotectedareas,expansionoftheroadnetworkacrossalongchainofprotectedhabitats,andlackofawarenessamongthelocalpeopleregardingthenatureofpythonsweresomeoftheobservedthreats. ThisreportrepresentsasmallnorthwardexpansionoftheknownrangeoftheBurmesePython,includingitspres-enceintheCTR.Bhupathy(1995)indicatedthattheknownnorthwesternandsoutheasternextentofthespecies’distri-bution are the RNP in Uttarakhand and the Bhitarkanika WildlifeSanctuaryinOrissa,respectively;however,thepre-ciselimitshavenotbeendeterminednorhaveanyspecificstudiestargetedthespecies. BarkerandBarker(2008)indicatedthattheexistenceoftheBurmesePythoninvariousdisjunctlocalitiesinthefoothills of the Himalayas along the Indian-Nepalese bor-dersuggeststhattherangeofthespeciesmightextendwestalongtheGanges,northalongtheGandakRivertothevicin-ityofChitwan,andnorthwestalongtheGhagharaRiverand its tributaries that drain south-western Nepal and east-ernUttarakhand.Furthermore,theprotectedareasthatfallwithintheUpperGangeticPlainsmightserveasahubforthespeciesinthenorthwesternShivalikLandscape.WeareuncertainwhetherpopulationsofeithertheIndianortheBurmesePythonareincreasing,stable,ordecreasing,norcanweevenspeculateaboutthepossibleecologicalconsequencesofpopulationsofonespeciesincreasing,potentiallyattheexpenseoftheother.Consequently,long-termfieldobserva-

Fig. 5. ABurmesePython(Python bivittatus)intheTimliForestRangeoftheKalsiForestDivision.PhotographbyAbhishekSingh.

Fig. 6. ABurmesePython(Python bivittatus)afterswallowingagoatandbeingreleasedintheTimliForestRangeoftheKalsiForestDivision.PhotographsbyAbhishekSingh.

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tionsanddetailedhabitatsurveysarerequired.Westronglyrecommendthatapilotstudybeinitiatedtoevaluatethehab-itatsandstatusofbothspecies;thisisessentialfordevelopingmanagementplansforpythonsinnorthwesternIndia.

AcknowledgementsWe thank Mr. Romulus Whitaker, Herpetologist &Conservationist,ChennaiSnakeParkTrust, forconfirm-ingtheidentificationofsnakesfromphotographs.Thefirstauthoralso thanks theG.B.Pant InstituteofHimalayanEnvironment&Development,GarhwalUnit, Srinagar-Garhwal,Uttarakhand, India, and theDoonInstituteofManagement&Research,Rishikesh,Uttarakhand,India,the institutionswithwhichhewasassociatedduring thestudyperiod, and acknowledges theUttarakhandForestDepartmentforprovidingpermissiontoconductresearchonelephantecologyandbehavior.WededicatethisarticletothelateDr.S.Bhupathy,therenownedherpetologist,whocon-tributedsignificantlytoIndianherpetologyandourknowl-edgeofpythonecologyinIndia.

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Fig. 7.EnlargedviewoftheheadandeyescalationofaBurmesePython(Python bivittatus)fromtheLacchiwalaForestRangeoftheDehradunForestDivision.PhotographbyAbhishekSingh.